Summer Romances Suck!
by Mortalita
Summary: Dez Boucharde and Katie Carmen are normal girls in a small town in Maine who just happen to be obsessed with the Host Club manga. On an early summer afternoon they meet their favorite characters, who are real, and shenanigans of all sorts follow.
1. Meetings Places and Blushing Faces

**TITLE: **_Summer Romances Suck_

**FANDOM: **_Ouran High School Host Club_

**GENRE: **_Romance/Humor_

**RATING: **_T (for some language and insinuated jokes (eventually))_

**PAIRINGS: **_KaoruxOC, HikaruxOC_

**CHARACTERS: **_Kaoru Hitachiin, Hikaru Hitachiin_

**WORD COUNT:**_ 7,266_

**SUMMARY: **_Dez Boucharde and Katie Carmen are normal girls in a small town in Maine who just _happen_ to be obsessed with the Host Club manga. On an early summer afternoon they meet their favorite characters, who are real, and shenanigans of all sorts follow. _

**NOTE: **_This story is one that my very dear friend and I are currently writing together. We were going to make it into a manga, but it would take too long as a 'summer project' and have decided to just draw our FAVORITE scenes! ^.^ I will put some information for all of you who want to see the pictures (once they are up on Deviant Art)._

**DISCLAIMER:** _We (Kreative Kathryn and I) do not own Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin. Bisco Hatori-sensei does and I am jealous X3_

Chapter One: Meeting Place and Blushing Faces

A blue-eyed girl sat on the floor of a long and boring hallway, relaxing against a wall. Silence stretched on and on as she stared at the ticking watch on her wrist. The cold stone wall penetrated her shirt, giving her forearms a ghosting of goosebumps, even though the weather was extremely hot. She bit her lip, hoping that the school's more formidable vice principal didn't find her and try to kick her out...again. She had already graduated but came back because her friends were underclassmen and still had final examinations. It wasn't like she was disturbing anyone.

'Katie, how much longer is that damn final?' The girl stood slowly, revealing her limited height. She didn't notice that the art posters nearby were even taller than her. She was used to being nearly 5 foot nothing and she knew that people made fun of her for it. She didn't care about it much, unless it was her friends who were doing the teasing.

_BEEEEP!_ The bell was high pitched and made the girl jump. She brushed her shoulder length brunette curls out of her face and plastered herself against the wall as released students rushed out of their testing rooms to retreat outside. A strand of brightly highlighted hair fell in her eyes, distracting her for a moment. She was still getting used to the vibrant reds, oranges and blondes in her hair that mixed with the natural brown.

'Where is she? I can usually spot her through a mess of kids...' She popped her head into the room her friend was in, "Katie!" She smiled slowly as she saw her friend picking up an array of colored pencils that threatened to spill onto the floor. "I see you were drawing...again."

"Yeah, I'm finally over my Alice phase." She nodded toward the picture of Alice in Wonderland and fixed the brightly colored barrette that kept some of her copper highlights in a place that she wanted. She slid a bunch of pencils into its case.

"That's a relief."

"Now it's butterflies!" She grinned widely, absolutely chipper with her new fascination. Her brownie eyes glittered with enthusiasm and the girl knew that somewhere on the inside her older friend was sighing. It was if she could draw a giant sweat drop on a piece of paper and hold it by her head, as if they were in a shoujo manga, and not look out of place.

"Are you ready to go? I _do_ have a job to get to." The shorter girl put her hands on her hips. She sounded impatient, but she really wasn't. She loved where she worked, but she wanted to spend more time with her friend.

"Then help me pick up the colored pencils!" They finished relatively quickly with both of them working together and headed toward the door. "Hey Dez...Do you think the new Ouran book is out yet?"

"Oh, I hope so!" Désirée sighed wistfully. "Kaoru—"

"Hikaru..." Katie began.

"Is the best!" The girls laughed as they finished their thoughts together. They left the school the back way to get to Dez's old yellow jeep. They were eager to head to the B&N bookstore that they practically _lived_ in during the summer.

A mere ten minutes later Dez parked in the blaring sunlight and hopped out. There once was a lack of doors—which had been convenient until the winter—but there were replaced and she hadn't taken the time to remove them for the summer break quite yet. She glanced at Katie and remembered what she had been excited to tell her. She tapped her shoulder, "I got my new tattoo."

"Really?!" Katie rushed around the jeep and grabbed Dez's arm, dragging her toward the store. "Lemme see!"

"Careful! It's still really sore!" She lead Katie to the bathroom. "And I'd appreciate it if you _don't_ try to rip my clothes off in public." She went into the handicapped stall, locked it and began to unbutton her sleeveless shirt to show the taller girl her back. As the pale blue cloth slid down her arms a soft gray angel wing that stretched from the top of her shoulder to just under her shoulder blade and a reddish black bat-like demon wing that ranged the same length could be seen.

"Ooh..." Katie reached to touch them but stopped when Dez spun around, and raised an eyebrow at her. "Anymore yet?" She quickly changed the subject so to not feel guilty about nearly poking it. "What about that eclipse-type symbol that you draw constantly? The one that you sign your art with..."

"That?" Dez turned over her wrist and the crescent that wrapped around the sun was visible. Four long rays from the nigh devoured sun stretched to either side of her wrist, almost connecting in the back and stretching over the base of her palm and down her inner arm. "I sold all of my Harry Potter chocolate frog cards to get that one for Christmas. I had a bugger of a time hiding it from my parents. They were gonna skin me alive."

"You didn't tell me when you got it."

"Sorry, I didn't want to risk my parents finding out." She shrugged and finished buttoning up her shirt. "Ooh! Random subject change! I got the Ouran anime!" She clapped her hands together excitedly and did her best not to squeal out loud as the left the bathroom. The girls naturally headed to the manga section of the store out of habit.

"Wha-? Why didn't you tell me?" Her eyes widened and she looked letdown.

"Because I brought it with me for you to borrow! I just got it in the mail two days ago and I _had_ to watch all of it first." Dez froze in her tracks. Right ahead of them was a tall redheaded guy looking at the books. "Oh my gawd...Katie! Look at that guy! He looks like Hikaru!"

Katie's eyes rested on the guy and she furrowed a brow. "How can you tell? You can't even see his face!"

Dez raised an eyebrow and smirked. The expression was very cat-like, bordering on mischievous. "I've read a _lot_ more Ouran than you have. I would know."

"How do _you_ know." Katie stuck her tongue out at the older girl.

"I introduced it to you, what do you think? C'mon Katie. Go talk to him!" She looked up at Katie, a challenge in her eyes that most people wouldn't see from someone at least six inches shorter than the person being stared down.

Katie's eyes slid open until they were the near size of dinner plates, "No way!" There was a squeak that tinged the edge of her voice. "I'm not making an idiot of myself to a look-alike! Plus, it's rude!"

The evil look on Dez's face grew more intense. 'I gotta get her to do this. Just to get her to...assert herself a little more.' She knew that she had to hide her real intentions before things got too carried away and she blanked her face. "Well, alright. But he's right in front of the Ouran books and I _know_ that you want your own copy really badly. You have to talk to him to at least get him to move."

Somewhere inside, Katie knew that Dez was getting some sick and twisted glee from making her face slip into the all-to-familiar blush that accompanied her whenever guys came into their topic of discussion. "I-I can wait. I d-don't have to get it now."

The grin on the short girl's face was instantly revived and began to get wider, "But you know you want it now." She glanced at the man standing in front of the books in time to spot him turning around. Her mouth was agape. If they were outside she could start catching flies. "Stars above, Katie. _Look. At. Him!_ You are _so_ gonna freak!"

Katie was preoccupied with a novella that was brightly colored. She picked it up and looked at the back. "Hold on Dez, I'm readin'."

"No, now!" She wanted to grab her friend by the face and turn her toward the guy. She didn't. Katie would have made some loud noise and that would have been bad. Very bad. Horrible even. That would ruin the advantageous situation that was slapping the small girl's face at that very moment.

"Oh jeez. Let me guess...he grins like him or something. Just drop it Dez. I'm not, I repeat _not_, going over the—"

Dez wrenched the book out of Katie's hands, went up on her tiptoes and forced her face in the direction of the guy. The younger girl's eyes blanked as she took in the view before her. Dez let go and sighed, "See?"

"Oh...my...gawd! Have I gone loopy?!" The brownie eyes blinked quickly as if even they didn't want to miss the sight before them.

"If you have then I'm in the same boat. It's a nice one too." She giggled a little too devilishly. She cleared her throat, "I can see him as clear as day. That is Hikaru."

Katie snatched the book back from her friend and buried her tinging face in it as she predicted what was going to happen. She didn't want to lock eyes with him. She did not want to be caught as a gawker. She definitely didn't want to be put in the same fangirl life raft that Dez floated in comfortably.

The guy looked up when he heard his name and glanced around, obviously bored with the small store. He spotted two girls not too far away, but they were plain. Highly uninteresting. He sighed quietly to himself and wondered where in this place his twin could have gotten to. It was odd not seeing the commonly shared flaming red hair close by. 'Why would anyone say that name, my name? It's not like it's a common name here.'

His gold eyes flicked back to his book, but secretly his ears were focused on a few girls who were timidly glancing his way and smiling. They were more...usual...than the two who were whispering by the books. A plain looking coffee rested in front of the flirtatious girls. Ugh. This was just great. They were away from the Host Club and still had people fawning over them.

"Now you _have_ to talk to him!" Dez almost squealed as she did a dance in front of Katie. Her eyes were pleading and the energy that was pulsating through her gave even the most devoted caffeine junkie the shudders.

"No way! This just give me more of a reason NOT to."

'Ah damn. Katie is being so frustrating! Even with her being so enamored with Hikaru's character in the books she is too shy about it. This is a very rare chance! And she's blowing it up!' The schemes were rocketing through her mind and one after another she tossed them away. 'She hasn't had a single guy ask her out because of this devotion to him, and if that is the way it's gonna be...I'll get them together even if it kills me!'

"Hey Dez...don't you think it's weird?"

Dez jerked out of her thoughts, still going through machinations as she answered, "Huh? What was that?"

"Don't you think it's a bit odd? Him being without his brother."

Dez's mouth fell open, she was at a complete loss. "Eh? What do you mean?"

Katie shuffled a bit and glanced at Hikaru before hiding her face behind another book. "Hikaru."

'I heard my name again.' He glanced up and his eyes locked with Katie's for a moment. He eyed her suspiciously before going back to his book. 'Maybe it's just a coincidence. Yeah, that's it. No need to get freaked out by some chick you've never met before...'

"What about him?" Dez raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side at the same time. It was a look that she had perfected to make herself look adorable and as curious as a cat watching a mouse hole for the first time.

"Where is his brother?" It was a simple question. Very simple. Painfully obvious. She bit back a giggle at the deadpanned look that Dez gave her.

"That...is a good question! They are never apart!" Dez rested her hands on the shelving unit next to her to give her a slight boost to rake the tops of the other shelves with her stormy blue gaze. Nothing.

"I know, it's weird, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Dez let go of the shelves and returned to her normal shortness. "But still, that doesn't change the fact that you are going to march right up there and talk to him." She smirked and crossed her arms over her chest, a defy-me-if-you-can pose if there ever was one.

Katie's eyes widened again and she shook slightly. "B-but Dez, I can't do that! You're crazy if you think that I have that much courage!"

A perfect plan did the macarena in front of her. "Well then, it looks like you'll be needing a little of my help!" The inner-Dez laughed maniacally. 'Bwahahaha! Now's my chance!'

"Wha-?!" She felt Dez's hands plant themselves on her back and she marched Katie over to where Hikaru stood. Her plan was going great, but Katie's natural clumsiness fine tuned the operation. "Eep!" The girl had tripped over the rug, or her own feet. Dez couldn't tell. All she knew was Katie had toppled onto Hikaru and once the dust cleared...they looked almost cozy.

Hikaru's legs were draped over one of the armrests of B&N's more comfortable chairs. The rest that dug into his back was probably uncomfortable, but no so much as the elbow that almost punctured his gut. Katie was on top of the gorgeous guy and her face was changing reds faster than a mood ring.

Dez smirked, satisfied. Her inner self was cheering. 'Well, my work here is done!'

Katie pushed herself off of Hikaru, only to fall to the side and onto her butt. "I-I-I am s-so sorry! A-are you okay?" She got up shakily and waited to be berated by the handsome figure before her.

Hikaru stood slowly, assessing his aches and straightening his clothes. Their sudden departure from Japan had prevented him from changing out of his school uniform, not that it mattered much. She hadn't made it more rumpled than the long plane ride had. "I knew the girls here were different from back home, but I didn't know that they were so _forward_." He smirked and leaned closer to her, resting his hands halfway in his pockets. "I like it."

'Oh my gosh, this is _bad_! He thinks I'm some sort of HUSSY!' She tugged at the bottom of her tee hoodie and did her best not to fidget any more. "Oh! N-no! I'm s-so sorry. It's just that...I mean to say, I, uh, tripped! That's a-all. I d-didn't do that intentionally. C-complete accident!"

Hikaru's smirk grew with every adorable stuttering word that fell from her lips. "What if I didn't want it to be an accident? I mean, you are cute." He wondered if she was going to change colors again, 'She might make a good toy, for now at least. Maybe I should show her to Kaoru...unless she has a friend as equally intriguing for him.'

The embarrassed girl's blush flared and she looked away, "I really do think I must be g-going now. Um, uh once again, I am really sorry. Good bye now." She turned to leave, not expecting to have Dez jump in again so soon.

'Oh no you don't!' Dez had fisted a part of the blusher's hoodie, and steered her back toward the smiling but confused Hitachiin. "I don't think we've been properly introduced." Her smile was charming and honey seemed to drip off her words. A honey that may or may not be laced with arsenic. "I'm Désirée Boucharde, and this is my friend, Katie Carmen."

Katie knew she wasn't getting out of this. She put on a nervous but polite smile, "Charmed."

Hikaru winked at her, "I should hope so." He flashed her a winning smile that elicited a fangirl squeal out of the girls drinking coffee. He continued as Katie blushed, "I am Hikaru—"

"HITACHIIN!" Katie blurted before slapping her hands to her mouth, wishing she could disappear at that very moment.

Hikaru's gold eyes were confused and his brows furrowed slightly, "Yeah, how did you know?" This was strange. They really did know him somehow and that was creepy.

"Um, well...you see, it's 'cause—" Dez couldn't actually come up with a reason. Saying 'You're a main character of a shoujo manga filled with teen heartthrobs,' was cliché and would probably weird the poor guy out wicked bad.

A shaky idea clicked in Katie's head, "We're fans o-of your mom's clothes!"

"Wha-? Oh! Oh yeah! We love her clothing lines, big fans we are. We heard that she was moving somewhere for a summer to broaden her brand's fame but...why are _you_ here? Even if she is an international brand..."

"Yeah, well..." He sighed and put his book put on the shelf. "Mother wanted to go somewhere more...secluded...for inspirations and so we ended up in this rundown town in the middle of nowhere."

"Hey!" Katie pouted. She liked this 'rundown town' a lot. She loved it even. It's not like she lived in the middle of town where she could walk everywhere like Dez could, but still.

"No offense meant to locals." Hikaru glanced around him, "But please excuse me, I must go find my brother. He left to look around and has been gone for ages..." He trailed off and spotted the top of his brother's head among the shelves. "Ah, there he is." He ushered the girls over so they could meet him. "This is my brother, K—"

"KAORU!" Dez clasped her hands in front of her and squealed. Before she could move, Katie had a firm grip on the collar of her shirt and she couldn't advance toward the younger twin.

"Sorry, she can't help it. She was suckered into being the head of your fan base three years ago...and it's moved from statewide to a lot bigger and because of the rather large fan network she deals with constantly, well, um...she's developed quite the...fascination for you."

Kaoru blinked and looked down at the girl who almost had pulsing hearts for eyes. "Er, that's an awkward way to meet someone. But it doesn't hurt that you're hot." He gave Dez a mischievous smirk.

"Oh gads..." Dez nearly stumbled backward, but decided to almost faint instead. Katie's grip on her collar stopped her in the process, unless she wanted to ruin a perfectly good shirt.

"Dez?" Katie refrained from gritting her teeth before the twins, "Could I speak to you, _privately_?"

Dez smiled and said dreamily, "Okay..."

"We'll be back in a moment." Katie dragged Dez to the women's restroom, "Dez! Are you nuts?!"

Dez sighed wistfully, "About him?" She was regaining normalcy, and the rate was alarming.

"No, in general!"

"Put _this_ in perspective. They'll be going home at the end of the summer, yeah? Sure, they think people are toys...but if that lets me hang out with them for the whole summer, so be it." She looked Katie up and down, waiting for the younger girl's reply. 'I think I hear the wheels turning in her head.'

"I...guess you're right."

"Of course I am!" She smiled brightly. "Sadly, I have to work..." she pouted instantly, "So I guess that means _you_ get to keep them interested in staying here!" Her voice was chipper with a potent level of evil laying underneath.

"What?" Katie's voice squeaked and cracked at the same time. "No! Get back here!"

Dez ran out of the bathrooms and raced toward the direction of the twins. "Have fun with Katie 'till I get off work, 'kay?" She waved as she passed, looking over her shoulder at them as she spurted out her rushed sentence.

As soon as she disappeared from sight, Katie came in panting. "Where'd she go?" She took a few deep breaths. "I'm so going to get her. How dare she do this to her little sister!"

The twins looked at her incredulously, "You two are siblings?"

"Not really." She wondered how to explain it to them. "In her senior year of high school she decided to adopt me in a way." Katie smiled as she thought back, 'Yep, this is how all this started. I'd be wrong if I only partially blamed Dez, but I guess I have to thank her too...' Mentally shaking herself from her reverie she changed thought patterns, 'Okay Katie, think! What to do, what to do?' She fidgeted a bit, 'The only think I can think of talking about is Ouran, but they probably don't know that most of their life is splashed onto pages of manga!' She asked the first question that came to mind. "U-um, have you two looked around Augusta a lot since you came here?"

"Not really." The younger twin glanced at his brother.

"It's boring, what is there to see?" Hikaru's eyes followed the change in Katie's expressions.

"L-lot's of things! We're in the Augusta Marketplace!" Katie waved her arms about to add emphasis. "I-I mean I know it doesn't look like m-much but...It's b-basically the hangout of Augusta! I'm sure that we can find something to do." She let her arms flop to her sides, 'Okay Katie, stay calm. All I need to do is keep them occupied enough so they don't wreak havoc before Dez gets out of work. Start countdown at four hours...'

"Well..." Kaoru tapped his chin with a finger. "If you can keep us amused until that other chick gets out of work we just may reward you." He gave the girl who was just barely shorter than himself a cheeky grin.

"Maybe." Hikaru interjected.

"Okay, fine!" Katie almost slapped herself for the bold words. She had taken their challenge. "Where to first?"

"Doesn't matter to us," they said in unison, "We've never been to any of these stores before."

"What? You're kidding!"

Kaoru shook his head, a direct negative. "Nope."

"Never been to Wally World?" Katie was unable to believe what she was hearing.

Hikaru was the one to speak this time, "Never."

The girl's jaw dropped, "Well I guess I know where we're gonna go first. Off to Wally World!" She grinned like an idiot and pointed toward the door triumphantly, as if she was leading a crusade.

The twins followed behind her, lagging behind to whisper. Kaoru started. "You know, it's almost infectious the way she acts. She reminds me of Haruhi with Hunny-senpai's attitude toward people. She's really happy."

"Maybe we should play a game with her?" Hikaru winked.

Kaoru smirked, satisfied with his brother's suggestion, "You think she could tell the difference?"

Hikaru rolled his eyes, "Pfft, she just met us." He grinned evilly, his gold eyes sparkling, "Not a chance."

Katie turned around and started to skip backwards, "What's keeping you guys? You comin' or what?"

"Coming!" The twins looked up at her and dashed over. They threw their arms around her shoulders and smiled all-too-innocently.

"You know, you're kinda short." Kaoru watched the brownie eyes turn on him.

"Not for a girl!" Katie frowned up at him, not quite pouting.

"Yeah, maybe. But to us you are short." Hikaru poked her cheek, drawing her attention to him this time.

Katie rolled her eyes, "No duh." She led the boys passed Dez's register and the shorter girl nearly hopped over the counter in a poor attempt to follow them.

"Hey!" She called out, waving her arms like she was trying to flag down a ship, "Where do you think you're going?!"

"Wally World!" Katie called back, smiling. "They've never been!"

"Oh not fair!" She pouted, obviously frustrated that her work was constraining her fun-with-hot-boys time. "Come back when my shift ends, will ya?"

"Okie dokie, Dezy!" She waved as they went through the front double doors. 'At least she isn't too upset.'

'Damn it all! I wanna go...' she whined to herself as she grabbed a blue sharpie from a drawer and tried to draw fake waves of tears on her cheeks. A co-worker took the pen away, after lightly smacking her upside the head and informed her that she wasn't a heroine in a manga nor a manga character in the first place, and had no right to have waves of tears like that.

Katie stopped and stretched outside the door, dislodging the arms that were becoming heavy on her shoulders. "You guys ready to go?"

Hikaru watched her walk toward the direction he presumed the store was in, "Where are you going?"

Katie stopped and looked back at the twins puzzled faces. "Um, to Wally World, where else?"

"You mean we're walking?" Kaoru was hardly short of gawking at her.

"Yeah...it's faster." Katie blushed, "It's c-close enough to walk to, and it'll save gas!"

Kaoru looked at her suspiciously, "Are you trying to say something?"

'God! Just get off the driving topic,' she thought desperately. "No!"

Hikaru leaned very close, making Katie's blush flare, and cocked his head to the side. "I think that by the flustered expression and the apparent blush that she's saying she can't drive." He smirked, "Am I right?"

"NO!" She blurted just a little too loudly to be convincing. This was just great, she was never going to hear the end of it, was she? It was bad enough that Dez teased her about it, but not these two as well? "I-I j-just don't h-h-have my p-permit yet..." Her voice steadily quieted during her last comment until the last words were barely a whisper.

Kaoru nodded knowingly, "Oh...well, Hikaru, we'll have to take her on _it_ then." His voice was too sunny for the look that was lingering in his troublemaker gaze.

"Wait, what?!" The girl squeaked, turning her head back and forth to look at both twins in turn. Their little devil smiles grew wider and soon Katie stopped switching between them before she gave herself whiplash.

"I guess we'll have to." Hikaru shrugged.

"W-what are you t-t-talking about?" Katie stammered.

"Do you think she can handle it, Hikaru?"

"Handle w-what?" Katie tried to push the goosebumps on her forearms down, fruitlessly.

"If we can calm her down long enough."

"Take me on w-what!?" Katie glared at them.

"Would you like to drive Katie-chan?"

"Drive what!" Katie grabbed the sleeves of their uniforms and almost felt hurt when the twins finally acknowledged her presence. She almost pouted, but decided against it at the last second. They weren't like Dez who would melt at the big puppy eyes.

"Our bikes of course." The twins looked down to the girl clinging to their shirts. The gleam in their eyes had not died down, and they gave Katie a feeling that it would be there a lot for the first few times they hung out.

"Y-your what?"

"Come here." Hikaru wrapped an arm around her shoulders, not missing her renewed blush, and lead her over to where two motorcycles stood.

"Um, uh..." Katie's eyes were wide open. "A-are you sure they're safe?"

Kaoru gave her a winning smile. "Of course."

"Aw, c'mon Katie-kun. It'll be fun!"

"Well..." Her face clearly declared that she was unsure about all of this.

Kaoru smiled brightly, imitating the look that was usually on Katie's face, "It's settled then. We'll take you for a ride and then you can show us Wally World." He gave her his best 'innocent' smile. "Now...who are you going to ride with?"

"I'll take her." Hikaru nearly laughed aloud at the blush that was staining Katie's face once again. 'She's hopeless. Why don't we just dye her cheeks that color and be done with it?'

'Wow, it's so obvious. I just hope he doesn't break her too bad. She is a sweet girl in ways.' Kaoru dashed the sympathetic thoughts away by confirming his brother's suggestion. "It's settled then. You can go with Hikaru."

Hikaru walked over to the blue motorcycle and skillfully swung his leg over it with practiced ease and turned his gaze to the fidgeting girl. "Well, come on. Get on already." His mind wandered as she shuffled closer. 'Hmm, I hope she's strong enough, cause if she can't pass our test then I have to hope that she won't go _completely_ insane.' When she finally climbed on Hikaru turned his head toward her, so to meet her eyes. "Hold on to me, okay?"

Katie flicked her gaze away but leaned forward at an achingly lethargic pace and wrapped her arms around Hikaru's middle. Her face hadn't cooled in color from before and just managed to get redder.

"See?" The older twin's voice was soft and sweet. "That wasn't so bad, now was it?"

"I-I guess not." Katie mumbled into his back.

"Alright then. Which way is it?" He peeked at Katie before turning his head to his twin and winking.

"That way." Her words were muffled, but they saw her hand pointing in the direction of the superstore.

"Then...let's hurry!" Kaoru smirked.

"Right." Hikaru gunned his bike and released the brake sending them forward suddenly.

"Wha-a-a-a-a!!" Katie screamed as she clung even tighter to Hikaru as they circled the parking lot a few times before heading toward the store.

"If you keep screaming you can't give directions." Hikaru called over his shoulder, taking his eyes away from the road before him for the barest moment. He watched her point again. Apparently she couldn't talk now.

After a very 'scenic' route to Wally World they find a place to park near one of the entrances. Kaoru hopped off of his motorcycle and patted the seat affectionately. "I love my bike. It's always nice to go for a ri—" He stopped in mid word when he looked over at his brother and saw the death grip Katie had on him. 'Is she for real?' He did his best not to crack up, but he had to lean against his bike for support.

"Um, Katie-kun? You can let go now. We're here." Hikaru's back was beginning to hurt from the position it was in to keep Katie from tearing it. She slowly released her hold on his shirt, that is...until she noticed how close they were. She jerked back quickly. A little too quickly. She toppled off of the bike backwards and both twins gawked at her out of concern and made an ooh-that-has-got-to-hurt face, before laughing.

"It's not that funny." Katie murmured as she brushed herself off. As her hand went over her pocket it began to ring and Katie jumped as if she had gotten bitch slapped by a piece of lightning. She pulled out the cell phone that was in her pocket and flipped it open, ignoring the laughter in the background. "Hello?"

"Oh Little Miss Katie...!" Dez's voice sang out from the cell.

"Okay, you are up to something."

"Oh, I'm hurt." Katie swore that she could hear the pout. "Will you do Dez a favor?"

"I knew it. What do you want and how much does it cost?"

"Well you're no fun!" She sighed over the line. "I ran out of curling mousse this morning and I was wondering since you were going to Wally World...could you get me some?"

Katie sighed and turned away from the twins who were now miming her falling off of the bike. "Sure. What's the brand you like again?"

"The göt 2b Series!" It seemed as if Dez had stolen all the chipper from Katie before the younger girl left the store. "Thanks so much, Katie. I'll pay you back."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. See you after your shift."

"Bye!" The line clicked and Katie could almost picture little hearts and flowers dancing around her friend's goofy smiling face. She shoved the phone back into her pocket. "C'mon you two."

Kaoru took a deep shuddering breath to calm himself some more. "S-so, who was that?"

"Dez. She—"

"Hey! It was your fangirl!" Hikaru snickered.

The younger brother blushed, "Shut up Hikaru." A small sulk was in the corner of his features. It was embarrassing. He was used to fangirls, but this one was...different from the others.

'Oh brother, I hope he's not getting attached to these random idiot girls.' Hikaru groused to himself.

"C'mon!" Katie's energy suddenly returned in a burst. "Let's go!" She leaned forward and grabbed their hands and started dragging them toward the building. She didn't notice Hikaru's cheeks getting pinker.

'What the hell?!' He shook his head violently to clear it. 'That's not supposed to happen.'

"Welcome to Wally World!" Katie let go of their hands and spread her arms wide as if to show them the extent of it all. She giggled when the boys' eyes widened and they stared.

"Wow." Kaoru stepped inside more to look around.

"I don't think I've seen so much commoner...well, stuff." Hikaru blinked.

Katie accepted a smiley sticker from the greeter and proudly stuck it to her cheek before taking their hands again. "C'mon, I have to get some stuff."

Kaoru grinned impishly at the tint in his brother's face. "And you thought I was bad?" He whispered in Japanese.

Hikaru's face flared redder and he cursed, "Shut up!"

"Did I miss something?" Katie met Hikaru's eyes before he abruptly pulled away his hand and his gaze.

Kaoru let go of Katie's hand and patted her shoulder. "It's nothing."

Katie shrugged and walked in front of them to lead the way, pausing here and there to look at brightly colored or shiny things.

Kaoru leaned in toward his brother, "Oh yeah. Really bad." He sidestepped away from his brother before running to catch up to Katie so he could have a witness if Hikaru tried to kill him.

A couple hours passed as they wandered through the clothes and housewares and eventually they detoured to the donut shop inside to buy something to drink. Katie spotted gum at one time and bought it instantly so she could pop a piece of caffeinated mint heaven into her deprived mouth. She picked her way through the sketch books and picked a decently sized one before remembering her 'errand'. She lead them to the cosmetic area which drew dubious looks from both twins.

"Um, Katie-chan, why are we here?" Kaoru didn't move down the aisle that had make up and deodorant on one side and hair styling products on the other.

"'Cause I gotta get Dez some mousse like she asked." Her brownie eyes roved the shelves for the correct words she was looking for.

Hikaru was brave and had stuck by Katie's side. "Why doesn't she just get it herself?"

"She's still at work..." Her eyes found purchase on a bright orange bottle. "Aha!" She picked it up and read the bottle to make sure it was the right one. "O-oh my..."

Kaoru started down the aisle to look. "What?"

"I didn't realize what this was called."

Hikaru looked over her shoulder. "What's it called then?" He didn't glance up when his brother joined him and looked over Katie's other shoulder.

"Hey Katie-chan?"

"Y-yeah?"

"What does 'kinky' mean?" Hikaru rested his chin on her shoulder for a brief moment. He looked at the name on the bottle 'göt 2b kinky' and raised his eyebrows as he wracked his brain for the correct meaning.

Katie's face was becoming quite at home being bright red. It could even be a second nature by now. "W-w-well. I-I um, i-it is...oh gawd! I, well I can't r-really explain it."

Kaoru pulled back enough to smile devilishly at her, "Why not?"

Hikaru smirked also, instantly picking up on the game. "I mean we really haven't fully gotten the hang of reading the English language, and there are so many different words that I'm not quite sure what it means."

Katie pulled out a dictionary from basically nowhere and began to look it up as her companions gawked at the book. 'Where the hell...?' and 'How the fuck...?' were basically hovering over their heads and occasionally doing some stellar acrobatics. She found the word, read the definition to herself and promptly snapped the book shut and turned away from the other two. Even her_ ears_ were red this time.

"Well...?" The boys asked.

"No way am I saying that."

"Aw, come on, please?" Hikaru pleaded.

"N-no! Ask D-Dez when we get back or something! Her shift must be almost over by now."

Kaoru glanced at his watch. He had almost forgotten about the other girl, "Oh, you're right. But we still have about ten minutes to kill..."

Katie gave a very out of character frown, pondering. "Then what should we do?"

The twins smirk in unison and each wrap an arm around Katie's shoulders. "Let's play the Which-One's-Hikaru game!" The twins turn her away from them and mess up their bangs and then walk before her so she doesn't know which one is which. "People usually use our bangs, but we're not letting you off that easily!"

"Okay." She shrugged. On the outside she was calm, her Inner Katie, however, was screaming. 'Oh my god, oh my god, OMIGAWD! 3 I never thought I would be playing this! I feel like I'm in a story!'

"Okay! Which one is Hikaru!" They grinned at her, their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders.

Katie didn't even pause to think and pointed to the boy on the left. "You are Hikaru-kun."

"How do you know it isn't me?" Kaoru gave her a winning smile.

"I just know."

The evilness slid off of their faces like skates on ice. "B-but how did you know?" Hikaru asked, messily fixing his bangs.

Katie rested her fingers around her mouth thoughtfully, "I don't really know...I guess it's just a...natural talent!"

"I guess that other girl will be our next target."

"Oh my GOSH! DEZ!" Katie ran to the self check out, bought her items and ran outside, dragging the boys behind her.

'No one's figured us out before...' Hikaru thought as they drove back to the book store. 'Well...except for Dad. And Haruhi. Maybe she is a little different.' As they stopped in the parking lot a light bulb appeared behind Hikaru's eyes, making them light up puckishly. "Hey Kaoru, let's go ask Dez what kinky means."

"Don't do that!" Katie protested in vain.

"You have to give her the mousse anyway. So we're going to ask." Kaoru grabbed the bag from her and both boys rushed to the front doors, a frazzled Katie chasing after them yelling and waving her arms.

"Wait!" She called after them. "You have my sketchbook!"

'It's over! Freedom!' Dez put a hand on her stomach when it growled loudly. Her co-worker from before raised his eyebrows and she smiled apologetically. "Heh heh?" She rushed to the bathrooms to change out of her work clothes and into a comfortable Wheaties tee. As she neared the front doors with her bag over her shoulder she saw a blur of orange hair. She stopped fluffing her hair and braced herself for an impact of some sort.

"HEY! OI! YOU, THAT GIRL!" The twins raced up to her.

Dez's eyebrow twitched and her jaw clenched. 'They couldn't even bother to remember my name?' She almost laughed at them when they were reprimanded by an employee.

"Can we ask you something?" Kaoru inquired, his voice softer now.

'You already did...' she grumbled to herself. "Go ahead, shoot."

"What does..." Hikaru began when Katie stumbled in out of breath and looking haggard.

"Okay, moving on. What does kinky mean?" Kaoru searched the short girl's face for some sort of hint from her expression.

"Don't ask her that!" Katie was blushing again and sounded very exasperated. 'Even though I told them to at Wally World. Stupid Katie!'

Dez's face was expressionless until she looked at Katie. She glanced down at the bag and remembered her mousse and burst out laughing.

"It's one of those god awful, painfully obvious words, isn't it?"

"No!" Katie cried out, trying to defend herself.

Dez ushered them outside before any more outbursts got her in trouble. "L-let me guess..." she dissolved into giggles once they got outside. "You...you, pfft, asked Katie!" The twins nodded and she had to lean against the pillar by the door to stay standing. "God, I wish I was there to see the look on her face!"

Katie blushed more and pouted at Dez, "It's not funny."

Luckily for the older girl her eyes were too clouded with tears to instantly be weakened by the younger girl's 'powers'. "Yes it is. Now be a good girl and plug your ears."

"Yes, Dezy..." She took out her ear buds and turned on some music before putting her hands over her ears.

Dez walked over to the boys and ushered Kaoru over first. She wrapped an arm around his neck and got up on her tiptoes to reach his ear and maintain her balance and whispered in his ear. When she let go he blushed and muttered, "Oh...this is awkward."

She moved to Hikaru and grabbed the collar of his shirt and tugged him down to whisper in his ear the meaning as well. She didn't really mean to treat them differently, but she was Kaoru's fangirl and she was going to take a few...liberties...when she thought that the boys wouldn't recognize it for what it was.

Hikaru tried not to laugh, "Pfft...but, why wouldn't Katie know what that means?"

Dez pondered to herself for a moment. 'Probably because my poor Katie never had a date before. But it seems like she's getting along with the Hitachiins just fine. Maybe...' She smirked. "Look at her."

Katie was bouncing happily on the balls of her feet to the beat of her music. Every so often they could catch a whisper of her humming to the song.

"Think she's ever been on a date before?"

"Not really." They replied.

"Exactly. So if she's never done anything like that before how would she know about kinky?" She left the two to wonder and tapped Katie on the shoulder, signaling that is was okay to remove the anti-hearing precautions. Katie obliged and put her iPod away.

"KINKY!" The Hitachiins chorused.

Katie blushed and looked frustrated at them.

Dez bounced up and smacked both boys upside the head. "What did I _just_ tell you?!" She turned away with a huff and crossed her arms over her chest, "Jeez, I feel like I'm babysitting two little kids." She glanced back at them to see them looking at a pop-up book on the clearance shelf outside of the store. 'Ugh, make that three.'


	2. Eating Plates and Secret Dates

WORD COUNT: 5,425

**NOTE: **_It's been a month, and with only two reviews! It's very disappointing...but thankfully we've had to great reviewers to make up for it. Thank you __**Naru-chan13 **__and ____, Kreative and I hope you enjoy the next chapter!_

**DISCLAIMER:** _We (Kreative Kathryn and I) do not own Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin. If we did...this story would be __**real**__!!!_

Chapter Two: Eating Plates and Secret Dates

In a family-oriented restaurant—the type that had old-fashioned and interesting things bolted to the walls— seated in one of those red plastic-leather booths sat four teens talking. To a normal observer it looked like a first double date for the young couples, the way that conversation was accompanied by minor awkward movements. A waiter came up and gave them menus and took drink orders, leaving a small basket of popcorn in front of them.

"So..." Dez began while twiddling her thumbs slowly. Somehow things had worked out that she was sitting next to Kaoru. At first she had protested, using her left handedness as an excuse to sit with Katie, or at least sit in the outer spot. She had spotted Katie and Hikaru already settled down across from her and gave up, "What exactly _did_ bring you guys to the US?"

"Like we said, Mother wanted the seclusion." Hikaru took a sip of the different American soda. Katie had told him to try Root Beer, and it was quite tasty.

"We wanted to get away from Japan," Kaoru continued as his brother drank.

"Plus it's summer. It's not like we're gonna stay." Less than a millisecond later he realized that those words coupled together were not something to mention around the girls. Both girls were crushed by the choice in words, remembering that the boys couldn't be with them forever.

"But I seem to be finding more reasons to stay by the minute." Kaoru quickly added. He winked at Dez, "If you know what I mean." He glanced at his hands for a moment shyly when the girl next to smiled and blushed.

Katie leaned toward Hikaru and whispered behind her hand, "Is it me or are they being completely obvious?" She looked at the couple across from her with the older twin; both were staring avidly at each other. For some reason there was no awkwardness about it. It was comfortable staring...which was odd because most people didn't like being stared at.

"Undeniably," he chuckled under his breath so that only Katie would hear him.

"Hey Dezy?" Katie leaned on her arms.

Dez pulled her gaze from the handsome redhead next to her and looked at her best friend, "Yeah Katie?"

"Why do they always give you popcorn when they know no one's gonna eat it?"

Dez picked up a piece and examined it with an inquisitive sapphire gaze. "So you can do this." She flung the kernel at Katie's face, bouncing it off her nose.

"Ah! I've been hit!" Katie clutched her face as if the popcorn had caused some horrifying wound.

"What the—?" The twins shrugged and started in on the popcorn fight. In a matter of minutes there was popcorn all over the table, some on the floor and even a few pieces in laps or in hair.

"Excuse me; I'm going to have ask you to leave it you don't stop." A very angry looking waitress glared at them over her tray and the teens traded a few sheepish looks before starting to clean up their mess.

"So, Dez-kun, what do you like to do?" Kaoru leaned an arm on the table and caught the girl's gaze.

"Well, I have a lot of hobbies really. I go through phases were I completely drop one and go overboard with another sometimes. Usually during the summer. I'm artsy all over I guess."

Kaoru cocked an eyebrow, "How so?"

"I read and write, I play several instruments and like to sing too...And I love my craptop, er, laptop. I'm on it a lot." She bit her bottom lip nervously, wondering why she couldn't shut up. That was all she needed to do, let her mouth run like a cheap pair of panty hose. Not.

Hikaru's head rested on his arms which were crossed and laying on the table. He was watching Katie very intently as she hunched over a napkin and drew furtively. His gaze zoned out but was still completely on her.

"Hey...Hikaru-kun?" Dez looked at the younger boy curiously, "Are you okay?"

"What?" He jerked up and met the older girl's eyes, "Oh, oh yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"Um, is she okay?" Kaoru noticed what Katie was doing.

"Who, Katie?" Dez smiled fondly at the artist. "Yeah, she's fine. This is entirely normal. If it's paper she'll draw on it. She carries those pens of hers _everywhere_. Hey Katie!" She almost laughed at the velocity Katie raised her head. "What ya drawing?"

Katie dropped the pen and quickly slapped her hands over the napkin, "N-nothing!" She blushed and didn't meet Dez's eyes. Oh why couldn't she control the color of her face in times like this? It was so not fair.

"The way you say nothing makes me think that nothing is a something." Dez raised an eyebrow.

"I-it's just a doodle! I do doodle. You too! You do doodle too..." She blushed. "And no, you can't see it yet! I-I'm n-not done!"

"Oh really? Setting restrictions, huh?" Dez smirked impishly. "Hey Hikaru-kun, do me a favor?"

"Hmm? Sure, what?"

"Tickle Katie."

Katie jerked and glared at Dez, "No! Don't do that!"

"Then show us." Dez crossed her arms over her chest.

"N-no!"

Hikaru began to poke and tickle Katie's sides after Dez nodded to him. Just the barest of touches were eliciting squeals from the artist. 'Why am I doing this? Oh well, she makes interesting noises...'

Dez snatched the napkin, 'Ah...music to my ears.' She peered down at the sketch, "Now, what do we have here?" She blushed as her eyes glided over the inked drawing.

"What is it?" Kaoru leaned closer to Dez to look and blushed as well.

"Hey! Let me see." Hikaru stopped tickling Katie and tried to take the napkin away from the girl across the table.

"Ah, jeez. I just wanted them to see how ridiculous they look."

Dez slowly spread the napkin out on the table. Hikaru gawked at the picture of Dez and Kaoru staring at each other (very obviously) and blushing. He was fighting to keep himself from laughing out loud and quite uncontrollably.

"Well, um..." Kaoru's face was tinged pink.

"At least it's good." Hikaru shrugged, finally in control of his laughter.

"That's Katie for you." She raised an eyebrow at the younger girl, "But I think she might have been exaggerating a few things." She stifled a sigh, 'I doubt they would ever feel like that about us. They are infamous for flirting and not meaning anything by it.' She picked up a menu and flipped the center pages back and forth. "What should we eat?"

"Food would be good," Katie grinned at her sarcastic remark.

"Ha ha, very funny."

Hikaru opened a menu and stared at the images of food, "The pictures aren't really helpful either."

Dez slapped the menu down and traded a few silent looks with Katie. There was a shrug and a wink thrown in for good measure. When they opened their mouths, they spoke in perfect unison. "That works."

"What works?" Both twins asked simultaneously. They didn't think it was odd when they talked in unison, only when others did. Besides, they at least used words. Those two hadn't made a single noise.

"Here they have a ton of little appetizers and you can order combinations of them. We could order a few and sample a lot of what they have in larger portions as a real meal and then if we ever come back we'll know what's good." Dez smiled, "That and we won't have to worry about having to finish something we don't like. Everyone has different tastes, so that way all the food will be eaten."

They discussed for a while what they should pick out of the selections and order. Nearing the end of the meal Dez glanced at her watch and her eyes widened.

"Oh, carp! Katie, weren't you supposed to be home a half an hour ago?"

Katie squeaked and jumped up, gathering the doodled-on napkins, "Mom is going to kill me!"

Kaoru glanced up at the hurrying girls. "It's only eight..."

"Katie's still in school. She has finals to pass tomorrow!" She grabbed Katie's arm and began to drag her out. "Sorry guys, see you 'round?" The girls disappear from view quickly.

'Around where?' Kaoru thought. He shrugged and looked at his twin after setting down a few bills to cover the tab. "Hm."

"What do you think, Kaoru?" Hikaru stood and slowly stretched. He hadn't sat still in so long.

"Well..." Kaoru stood as well and started toward the parking lot with his brother, "They'll make our time here interesting for a while at least. It can't hurt, can it?" He glanced back at the table and something caught his eye. He picked it up and smirked. On a napkin was a picture of all four of them laughing and having a good time. It was signed with Katie's scrawl, but under that was a different hand with two numbers and the girl's names next to it. Dez had known that one of them would have seen it. She could be tricky when she wanted to be.

Hikaru took the picture from the younger twin and stared at it. "Yeah." He smirked, "Let's go get our bikes and follow the girls."

"Good idea."

- - -

Dez's foot slowly pressed the gas pedal lower to the floor. 'Crap crap oh crappity crap! I hope she doesn't get grounded! I was going to take her to Rockland for a few days!'

Katie's eyes are glued to the speedometer. "Uh, D-Dezy...you d-don't have to drive so f-fast!"

"Huh?" The older girl jerked from her frenzied thoughts and saw how over the speed limit she was. She let her foot off the pedal and coasted until she was near the limit again. "Sorry. I just hope your mom won't be mad."

"I think she'll be madder if she has to pay a hospital bill!"

"I said sorry!" The jeep slowed quickly and turned sharply into Katie's drive. "Want me to pick you up tomorrow?"

"Nah, I can take the bus. Besides that Dez, don't you have to work early?"

"Damn...I hate it when you're right."

"I'm right a lot of the time."

Dez grinned, "I know but so am I. That's why we never fight." She shifted the jeep into reverse. "Love you! See you tomorrow."

Katie waved, "Thank you."

Dez rolled her eyes and she left, 'She always says 'thank you'.' Twenty minutes later she pulled into the small parking lot of her apartment. She mentally winced as she got out of the jeep. She grabbed her purse and spotted a napkin on the seat with two similar phone numbers with foreign area codes on them. 'Maybe these are the twins' numbers. Hmm...Maybe they are planning something?'

She walked up into her tiny apartment and picked up the phone to call Katie's house and tell her mother where she had been. Well, mostly. Katie was with her, and that was the safest place for Katie to be. She prayed that Katie's mom thought that they went to her apartment and studied for the next exam.

'Pfft, as if. Katie makes too much fun of my apartment. Like I would bring her here when she'd only tease me about how small it is.' She flopped onto her bed and drowned herself in sleep.

- - -

Katie glared at the finally finished exam in front of her, thinking desperately, 'Geometry should _die_!' She almost ran to the front of the room to turn it in and left. The bell had rung a minute ago, and she had only just finished. Her brownie eyes looked everywhere outside her class all the way down to the food court, 'Dez isn't here...?' She stepped outside and looked around for a moment. 'Oh yeah! She's at work. Gotta find that bus.'

A half an hour later Katie stepped into the blissfully air-conditioned bookstore and headed straight for the manga section. Her eyes landed on Dez, who was sitting on a little stool and reading the backs of the manga she was supposed to be shelving.

"Hey Dez, see Hikaru-kun or Kaoru-kun yet?"

Dez jumped suddenly and after a volley of clumsy juggling, tossing and near-dropping, set the books down on the stool she had once occupied. "Not yet." She hugged her friend furiously and only let go when she thought that Katie's face might have started changing color.

"Oh." She pouted slightly, making Dez turn away quickly as if the shorter female just remembered she had books to shelve and not a puppy-dog pout to get guilted by. "Maybe seeing them again just wasn't meant to be. Maybe they were just playing us."

"I wish they had played us longer." Dez sighed wistfully and giggled when Katie gave her a 'look'. She grabbed another armload of books off of the cart and gawked at the top book. It was the latest Ouran book. After some cautious shifting, she handed the book to Katie. "Go read this, maybe it'll cheer you up. You done with finals yet?"

Katie ran a hand through her black cherry hair, "Just one more tomorrow."

"Did your mom okay the trip?"

"Yup!" Katie began to smile. "Maybe this will keep my mind off of them."

Hikaru turned the corner and popped up behind Katie, making both girls jump visibly. "Them who?"

"Wah!" Dez nearly dropped her books again, only to have Kaoru come up behind her and wrap his arms around her and the books in her arms. "Wh-where did you come from?"

"Outside of course." Kaoru's voice was silky by Dez's ear. He retained the chuckle that wanted to burst out when he heard the girl in his arms swallow nervously.

"Now, what is this trip you were talking about?" Hikaru took Katie's hand, not noticing that she had just slipped the Ouran book onto the shelf, and kissed it. "Are you trying to get rid of us?"

Katie blushed furiously, "N-no! It's n-not that. We just have p-plans."

"Those plans can include us, right?" Kaoru leaned away from Dez slightly and he turned her face toward his, his golden eyes boring into her currently blue-gray ones.

"I-I guess so. We're going to be staying at my grandparents' cottage for four days."

"What?" Katie squeaked, she had not known some of the details of the trip. "You didn't tell me it was going to be _that_ long!"

"Oh, okay. Katie, it's going to be about four days and three nights. Maybe a little more."

"Thanks Dez." Katie didn't sound thankful at all.

Dez giggled, "You're welcome."

"When do we leave?" Both boys raised an eyebrow.

"After Katie's last final."

"What grade is she in?" Kaoru finally let go of Dez so she could put the books down and look at him to answer.

She looked at Katie for a moment, as if she was assessing her friend with her gaze. "In America, we have four years in our high schools, whereas you have three. So she'd be a first year in Japan, which makes her a sophomore."

"And you are a second year?" Hikaru guessed.

"Pfft. Nope." She grinned, "I _was_ a third year by your standards. I just graduated. This is my last summer to have real fun."

"What do you mean by real fun?" Kaoru asked her.

"Oh...you know. The kind of stuff that would scar Katie for life. The not-so-legal side of entertainment." She looked at the shocked faces around her, "What? You thought I was serious? I was only thinking bonfires and fireworks and going mudding and sprinklers. Jeez, you guys don't know me at all."

'Of course they don't Dez,' Katie groaned in her head, 'They just met you yesterday. I've known you for a few years, but even then you have a few nuts up your sleeve.' Katie returned to the conversation, "Sparklers too?"

"I don't see why not." Dez tapped her chin thoughtfully, "And maybe I can teach your guys how to sail a boat. There's a lot of seafood to enjoy as well. This is Maine after all!"

Katie smiled with a glint of impishness. "But Dez, don't you hate seafood?"

"Yeah, yeah...I'm not fit to live in Maine. I know what you're saying underneath that giggling exterior." She poked Katie's sides a few times and watched the girl giggle and squeal. "I can always try it again, and if I don't I still like haddock, tuna and calamari!" Her phone started to ring out loud enough for all of them to hear, "Sore ga bokura no love stye, tai no katachi da love stye. I need you, I want you...forever, Kore ga futari no love stye, doko madde datte lo-vu stye. You are mine, I'm-a yours. Only you, love you." She jumped and dug around in her pocket before it continued. She blushed when she answered it, hoping that the twins were too occupied to know the words.

Katie watched her friend flip open the phone nearly fast enough to break it in half and answer it. She wondered who was on the other line, but soon she found out.

"Yes? ...Oh, sorry. I thought it was someone else... Yes, Mom..." She didn't sound really happy at the moment. Of course she wouldn't be. She was on really bad terms with her mother as of late. She cringed slightly at the loud voice in her ear. She didn't dare pull it away from her ear in fear that the others would hear. "It's where? ...Oh. Yeah, thanks... Tomorrow... Yes... Yes, I _know_ that. I'm not stupid... As if... I told you, I _know_, okay? Drop it... Whatever. Bye."

The snap was loud. 'How much longer will her phone last if her mom calls her on a daily basis?' Katie decided that it was better to not know.

"What was with that ring tone?" Kaoru asked.

"What? It's a good song." Dez blinked and looked passive on the outside, but on the inside she was freaking out and hoping that the twins hadn't caught on.

"It's in Japanese." Hikaru remarked. He left out the part that the singers sounded oddly like them, but not quite. If this was some fangirl thing, he really didn't want to know.

"It's just a song of the soundtrack from—"

"A movie. She watches weird movies. I doubt we'd ever see it. Ever." Katie subtly emphasized the last word to catch Dez's attention.

'It's obvious that their hiding something...' Kaoru glanced at his brother and knew that he was thinking the very same thing.

"O-oh yeah! Katie, don't you need to buy your book? C'mon." She glanced at the twins, "We'll be right back." She snatched Katie's hand and dragged her off between the shelves.

"Do you think they're hiding something?" Kaoru stared at the retreating backs of their new companions.

"Oh no shit, Kaoru." The older twin sounded exasperated.

"What do you think it is?"

"How the hell should I know?" He paused and suddenly smirked, "We should look into it. It could make these four coming days with them a lot more interesting."

"Naturally."

"Fine, you take the Shorty and I'll go after the six-year-old in the first year body." Hikaru grinned devilishly. "I hope they keep surprising us for a while. I don't want to have to look for a new toy so soon."

"I dunno, Hikaru. I think I kinda like them."

"Kaoru-san!" Dez headed back toward where she could see the tops of the boys' heads as Katie dawdled along behind her.

"Are you in or out, Brother?" Hikaru narrowed his eyes.

"Fine, fine. I'm in."

Dez bounced up happily, "Hiya." She was contagiously cheerful. It was like the flu, without the miserable feeling. It was nearing too-chipper, but as the boys would soon find out, she was never like that unless she was really mad about something.

Katie hardly looked up from her book. She only paused to whisper, "Hi Hikaru-kun," before locating a chair with her peripheral vision and flopping onto it.

"So you two are going to come then, right?"

Kaoru shrugged, "We've decided it sounds interesting enough." He bent over slightly and leaned closer to her until their faces were inches apart. He knew how to tease this particular girl that stood shivering slightly in front of him. He glanced down at her mouth, just to toy with her head before whispering, "And it seems to catch my attention more and more every minute."

Dez blushed and stumbled back until her back rested against the pillar near the shelves. She braced her back and hands against it as her knees gave out and she slumped to the floor.

'Oh no, not again.' Katie shook her head slightly, just noticing that she had read the same sentence a few times over. 'If this is all that'll happen I'm gonna get a good start on my book...I mean, it's ridiculous! Kaoru's being more flirtatious with Dez than he is with Hikaru...and he's _bi_!' She flipped passed the forward, 'Whatever. I'll just wait it out.'

Hikaru wandered over to Katie and sat on the arm of the chair she was in. He leaned toward her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders so that he wouldn't fall over. "What are you doing over here and alone? Why aren't you over there and talking?"

Katie blushed under the attention and weight of his body. "That's 'cause I'm reading."

"What are you reading?"

"Howl's Moving Castle." Her voice sounded a little happier when she said the title of the paperback novel in her hands.

Hikaru leaned back a bit to study her face, "Is it any good?"

"Yeah. I would know. This is my twelfth time reading it."

"_Twelfth?_" His eyes widened and he couldn't believe her. Who would read a book twelve times? Wasn't once enough?

Katie blushed harder, and her voice was tense with annoyance. "Yes."

"Why read it twelve times?"

"Because it's a good book!" She was getting peeved that he wouldn't let the subject drop. She just wanted to read her book. What did the world have against her reading today? Earlier that week she had a teacher take away her book during the exams.

"Well then." Hikaru smirked and slid his hands underneath her and scooped her up into his arms long enough for him to steal her chair and set her down on his lap, "I hope you don't mind me reading over your shoulder?" His smirk turned into a grin when Katie blushed and stuttered that she didn't mind. "Good." He rested his head on the delicate shoulder of the girl and began to read along.

Dez's eyes wandered over the guy next to her through the bangs that had fallen into her face. 'He really is good looking,' she thought as she chewed on her bottom lip slowly. Out of nervous habit she tugged on one of her fingerless gloves that stretched up her forearms and hid under the sleeves of her white button-up shirt. 'Maybe I'm just pushing my luck with all of this...' She sighed.

Kaoru stopped talking when he noticed the slight change in Dez's demeanor. "Is everything alright?"

"Huh?" Dez snapped her head up to look at him and nearly threw herself off balance at the same time. "Oh!" She blushed softly. 'Dammit, why am I blushing so much? It's not like I'm Katie!' She shook herself mentally and forced an answer out of her lips, "I'm just dandy."

"Then why did you sigh?" Kaoru cocked his head to the side 'innocently'. He knew a simple move like this could get anything out of most girls.

Dez bit her lip a little harder, 'Dammit, why does he have to look so cute like that? Did Katie confide in him my puppy-eye weakness?' She broke their eye contact quickly. "I was just thinking..."

"About what?"

"Nothing really." She changed the topic, "Hey Kaoru-san?" She fiddled with the glove again, "Wanna help me with something?" Her eyes, now a pale blue to reflect her emotions, skittishly moved up to meet his gold ones. They locked together and her breath hitched slightly.

Kaoru smirked; he could see the way she reacted to him easily. "That depends on what you want me to do."

Dez's eyes widened and the shock broke the spell for the moment. "Gads, nothing like that!" She chuckled, "At least, not yet." If he was going to shock her then she would do it right back. It couldn't hurt, right? As long as he never found out, she'd be safe.

Kaoru knew his face was attempting to shift to a pale pink tint and he did his best to hold it back. Now was _not_ the time to be blushing around a _toy_. 'Holy crap, can you say forward?' He paused in his assessment, 'But, attractive. Definitely attractive-forward.' He pushed a hand through his hair on the side that mirrored his part. "What do you want me to do?"

Dez jerked her thumb toward the bookcase; both of them knew that Katie and Hikaru were behind it reading a book cozily in each other's company. "As you've probably noticed, Katie's a bit...er, _taken_ by your brother."

"Pfft." He snorted, "A bit?"

Dez rolled her eyes as her arms crossed themselves over her chest. "You know what I mean," she huffed; she tapped her foot on the floor in a failed attempt to be intimidating toward the taller boy.

"Yeah, yeah. Where are you going with this?"

Her arms slid away from each other and she moved them behind her and twisted her fingers together nervously. She rocked back on her heels and tried to mumble out what thoughts were niggling at the back of her brain. "Do...do you think Hikaru-kun could possibly—under the right circumstances—be able to harbor any...feelings for her in return?"

Kaoru shifted uncomfortably and shifted his eyes toward the couple reading from the vantage point he had over the bookcase. "I don't know." His voice was uncertain. Personally, he doubted that these girls had what it took to be promoted in any way from toy status. He thought back to the friends he had left behind in Japan. Friends. Well, he had been wrong before. Maybe his brother could fall in love, but would he even notice those feelings before it was too late?

"Look," something in her voice altered abruptly, "I'm just looking after Katie, okay? Just...make sure he doesn't let her down hard okay?" She smiled at him. It wasn't a happy smile; even an idiot could tell that this face had a lethal contender underneath. The chipper tone in her voice belayed her true feelings, "If he does I'll hunt both of you down, and give him a vasectomy with a rusty machete and no anesthesia."

Kaoru winced, "O-okay." He decided that a swift topic-shift would be the greatest plan at the moment. He took her hand and bowed over it, "Your wish is my command, Désirée-kun."

Dez gave him an honest and sweet smile this time. She just barely controlled the blush that wanted to leak out onto her features as his lips brushed against the soft skin on the back of her hand. She watched him straighten and he released her hand.

"Now, maybe we can talk a little more about us..." He went to look at her only to notice that she wasn't there anymore. "What the—Hey!"

Dez bounced up next to the chair, hoping to jump one of them. They had seen her coming out of the corner of their eyes and she sighed, "Hey there." Her voice was still overly-happy sounding.

"Hiya Dez." A small frown was in her brownie eyes when she met her friend's stare. She was about to ask when she realized that in front of the twins might not be the best place to inquire about the shorter girl's problems.

Hikaru glanced up from the page that he had been reading, "Hey." He quickly turned back to the novel that was in Katie's hands, with his casually covering hers.

Dez wondered why Katie wasn't blushing. 'Maybe she got used to it after a while.' Something tightened in her chest and she knew she was slightly jealous. 'He better not hurt my Katie or I'll...I'm going to have to show him how to be someone _good enough_ for her.' She tapped Hikaru on the shoulder, "Hikaru-kun, I gotta take Katie home now."

Hikaru's golden eyes were sharp when they locked onto the hesitating girl hovering above the seated couple. His attention was finally caught for more than five seconds, "But why?"

Dez wrapped an arm around her middle so she could rest her left elbow in her palm and playfully tap her bottom lip as she pretended to think. "I have to help her pack. She can't really go anywhere without clothes now, can she?"

"Says who?" Hikaru muttered under his breath, eliciting a scandalized blush from the girl who had yet to move from his lap.

Dez shot the boy her ultimate death glare, "_What_ was that?" She kept her voice low, but it was heavily laced with ire.

Hikaru's eyes widened slightly and knew that this kind of voice was not one he wanted to hear often, "Nothing!" He blurted hastily.

Dez unleashed one of her misguiding smiles, "Good!" She dragged Katie out of Hikaru's lap unceremoniously and placed herself between the teens. "We'll leave tomorrow. I'll call and give you directions, okay?"

"Okay. That's fine by us." The twins responded in unison.

"See you tomorrow!" The happy-go-lucky-with-a-dagger tone was slothfully edging out of her voice.

"Bye-bye." Katie stepped forward and took her book from Hikaru gently and waved. A moment later she jerked forward as Dez hauled her away by her hand.

Kaoru sat on the arm of the chair and watched their retreating backs with his brother. A devious smile started only as an inkling, but began to spread as the girls got farther out of sight. He glanced at his brother and discovered that his expression was the same.

"We're just going to scare them senseless by showing up at Katie's, aren't we?" Hikaru stood slowly and stretched.

"Of course." Kaoru took his bike key out of his pocket and stood as well.

"Remember how to get there?"

"That's the easiest part."

"Do we have any of that horror movie make-up left?"

Kaoru paused to think, "Yes...but we might be out of fake blood."

"That's easy enough to get. We can just send someone to get it for us when we get back." The boys headed out to the parking lot and began to plot.

--

Katie leaned forward in her seat as she followed the second hand on the clock at the front of the room. She was glad that she had been the first student to get to the room, besides the teacher, so she could grab the seat closest to the door. She bounced slightly in anticipation. She had turned her last final in almost ten minutes ago and was so excited that she couldn't even draw. It was horrible! She had sat in her seat, unable to listen to her music, and stared at the clock. She had observed that glaring at the second hand _didn't_ make it move any faster.

'C'mon, you stupid clock! Can you go any slower?!' The second hand stuck for a moment at five seconds of noon and she almost face-palmed herself. She held her breath until the shrill beep echoed through all the halls. She jumped up suddenly, nearly knocking her seat over and ran out the door.

'Dez would fall behind and get run over if she was running with me,' she giggled. She used the advantage of her long legs to keep ahead of the crowds and once she was outside she jumped up onto a marble bench and hollered, "FINALLY! It's summer!" She whooped and leaped down and sprinted toward the guest parking lot where Dez idled in her jeep.


	3. Hide Aways for Several Days

**WORD COUNT:** _5,195_

**NOTE: **_It's been a while since I've updated. Kreative and I have been through some holiday 'wows' and quite a bit of writer's block. Hopefully we'll over come it and not let you guys down! Yes, m'dears, I'm updating early. I don't know why, I just feel as though I really should. I hope you all enjoy this next installment!  
_

**DISCLAIMER:** _We (Kreative Kathryn and I) do not own Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin. Sorry to disappoint, but we won't be able to lend them for your personal fangirly enjoyment._

Chapter Three: Hideaways for Several Days

"Come _on_ Katie!" Dez stood on her seat and waved at her friend excitedly. She flopped down and was half-way leaning across the passenger's seat to open the door for her when she remembered that she had taken the doors off of her jeep in celebration of summer officially starting for both Katie and herself. "We gotta get to your house, I already gave the twins the directions there!"

"What did you do that for?" Katie half whispered-half screeched. Most would think something like that was humanly impossible, but Katie—being Katie—could break normalcy in half without even noticing she did it.

"Where else could we meet them?" Dez raised an eyebrow as she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel restlessly. She looked entirely smug until her companion opened her mouth and gave an intelligent answer.

"Duh, where we met them before. At the bookstore." The younger girl tossed her bag in the back and hopped into the seat, buckling quickly as Dez shifted the jeep into reverse.

Dez pouted and remained quiet for a while. Damn, Katie had a point. "You know what? I'll tickle you, even if I'm driving." Her threat was light, but she still meant it. 'Serves her right...for being right all the time.'

Katie squirmed in her seat uncomfortably, "Please don't?"

Dez leaned over a bit and pretended to poke her, which made Katie squeal and shift away quickly. She grinned at Katie and shook her head, "Aw, why not? It's so fun."

Katie blushed slightly and mumbled into her lap, "Not for me..."

'It's too easy to torment her, I almost feel bad about it...' Dez smirked and looked over at Katie, 'She's so cute.'

"DEZ!" Katie screamed, pointing in front of them. "Watch out for the CROSSWALK!" Her face was pale with dread.

Dez turned back to the road and screeched to a stop. "Katie, it's not very nice to give the driver a heart attack. There was no one in the thing, so don't worry about it." She sighed and absently tugged down the edge of her skort that had risen up at her jamming the brakes so hard. She palmed the gearshift and looked to see if anyone was coming.

Katie clung to the bar attached to the dashboard and shivered slightly. If Dez was going to drive like this...she would rather walk the eight miles from school to home. She leaned back as far as she could so not to impede the driver's view and still grasp the 'oh shit' bar as tightly as she could.

"Now, OFF TO MISS KATIE'S!" Dez loosed the brake and swerved deftly into the correct lane and zoomed down the road (at least as much zoom as you can get in a 25MPH speed zone) with a happy yet manic smile on her face.

Katie's death grip didn't relax at all during the ride. "Dezy! The speed limit is 25, not 85!" Her eyes were nearing dinner-plate size, maybe even platters if Dez's lead foot wouldn't let up.

"Oh please, Katie. I'm not going 85, I'm going 50. And the speed limit is 40. Boo hoo, ten miles faster. Don't you _want_ to see the boys?"

"Not if I'm seeing them from a cottony cloud above!"

Dez rolled her eyes and slowed to a stop at the light. "Jeez, you act as if I am a reckless driver or something." She looked and saw no one was coming and took advantage of the lack-of a 'No Turn on Red' sign.

"Reckless driver? No, you aren't a reckless driver." Katie sighed as she shook her head disapprovingly at her friend.

"Why thank—"

Katie interrupted her, "Calling you a reckless driver is too specific. You ARE reckless personified." The brownie eyes sparkled as they watched the shorter girl's eyes flash a menacing blue-gray. Thankfully, Dez was concentrating too much on trying to find Katie's house without passing it.

Dez ignored her politely and mumbled softly to herself, "Not Katie's, not Katie's, not Katie's...AHA! KATIE'S!" She turned sharply while slowing down, but the results still made Katie shriek. 'Well, at least she covered the _slight_ sound of me grinding the gears.'

Kaoru, laying an a small puddle of fake blood, almost broke character and laughed from where he was sprawled. He cracked open his eye slightly and caught a glance of Hikaru who was just barely keeping a sadistic smirk off of his face. He let his open eye wander over to where their bikes lay, doing a quick once over. He hoped that it looked like they had gotten into an accident. 'Let's just hope they fall for it,' he prayed.

Dez spotted the boys first. "Shit," she muttered to herself as she ran over. She could hear Katie crawling out of the jeep to follow. She knelt quickly, thankful that it hid the fact that her knees gave out. She didn't want Katie to know how worried she was, it was the easiest way to keep Katie calm.

A slightly trembling hand touched Kaoru's neck hesitantly, 'She's feeling for my pulse I bet. She's better during a crisis than I thought she would be.'

Starting at his neck, Dez softly touched his collarbones, shoulders, and down his arms. She continued feeling his body carefully, looking for broken bones or other irregularities that would occur from sustaining an injury. All the while she tried talking to the boy who was limp in front of her. "Kaoru-san? Kaoru-san, can you hear me?"

Katie was barely a few feet away, but she wasn't as calm as her friend was. She had fisted a handful of Hikaru's shirt and was shaking him gently as if trying to wake him up as tears streamed down her face. Her throat constricted tighter at the view before her and she couldn't talk.

"Wait a minute..." Dez raised an eyebrow at the boys and touched the warm 'blood' on Kaoru temple. She didn't notice the boys tense uneasily as she rubbed her forefinger and thumb together. She frowned and sniffed it before hopping up onto her feet with a glare. She kicked Hikaru, and then Kaoru, in the foot. "Get up. Your _blood_ smells like cheap plastic and is too watery at this stage. It would have started to congeal by now if it were real. I'm not wasting any emergency first-aid skills on _either_ of you."

She swallowed and stalked off to her jeep, trying to quell her pounding heart. 'I can't believe that I can sound so calm after...after practically feeling Kaoru up!' Dez bit her bottom lip and shoved the blush away. She turned back and stomped over toward the twins who were grumbling at their semi-failed prank as they stood.

Storm blue eyes saw their smirks easily and she stood on her tiptoes to smack them upside the head, not even wincing when she heard the hollow thunk as their skulls knocked together.

"Ow!" Hands flew up to their real injuries and Hikaru glared at Dez as a small tear formed in the corner of Kaoru's eye. "What was that for?!"

The brunette wrapped an arm around Katie's shoulders. "For Katie of course! She's too dazed and nice to smack you when you deserve it!" She shook her head at the boys and linked her arm with Katie's before leading her toward the house. "If you want to ride your bikes to the cottage behind my jeep, go ahead. But just so you know it would be more entertaining if you were in the same vehicle as us!" She grinned over her shoulder before going inside.

Hikaru gaped at the retreating backs. 'I'm never going to understand that shorty..._ever_.' How could she bounce back and forth from one extreme to another? 'Oh well, she's Kaoru's problem, not mine.' He raised an eyebrow after the door shut behind the girls, "More fun?" He looked over at his smirking brother, "We're always up for more fun, right Kaoru?"

The smirk evened out into a grin. "Of course, Hikaru. I wonder what kind of fun they have planned for us."

Before the boys could continue their conversation, a door slammed and Dez came into view, walking backwards with a large bag in one hand. She swung her keys around her finger as she hopped down the two stairs and continued her reversed walk, talking to Katie about something all the while. "...then I heard this bang. I didn't know what it was so I ran upstairs just in time to see my brother take the thing out of the microwave with a pair of tongs and throw it from the second story window into the driveway."

Katie followed Dez to the back of the jeep and put her bag in and took the keys from the older girl as she strapped things in. "So it _is_ possible to make a bag of popcorn explode."

"Yeah, and I told him if he ever did it again I was going to make him clean out the microwave." Her eyes were once again sapphire and glinted with mischief.

"That doesn't sound too bad." Katie walked to the front of the jeep and pulled her iPod out of her pocket and started to fiddle with the ear buds, trying to untangle the cord.

"With his _tongue_." Her smile was openly sadistic and made Hikaru stepped back slightly. She pulled the lever next to her seat, moving it forward. "Hop in. Katie's in front because she's in charge of the music. Hurry up, will you? We don't have all day."

The twins jerked out of their momentary shocked positions. Kaoru looked at Hikaru, mutual thoughts in their minds. They had both figured that Kaoru would be asked to sit in the front with her. They shrugged and Hikaru climbed in first.

"Bossy, isn't she?" Hikaru spat as he settled in his seat behind Katie.

"Only when she knows she is right." Katie half sang, ignoring the dark glare that her friend shot her. She was used to the mock-glares, knowing that Dez hardly meant any of them.

"Is that often?" Kaoru jerked backwards as the seat clicked back into place with a silent touch of vehemence.

"Yup!" Katie grinned at Dez as her companion got into the driver's seat, the glare still burning in her eyes. Katie brushed it off nonchalantly, ignoring it with a practiced finesse. "She's the smart one."

Dez softened as she began to stick the keys in the ignition, "And she's the artistic one." She changed her mind and leaned over Katie, unlocking the glove compartment. She took out a cord that she plugged into the hole where the cigarette lighter usually was. "Did you bring it? My iNot died...again."

"When do I not?" She plugged it in and played with it for a moment to pick the first song for their trip. "Really Dezy, you need to get a better mp3 player if you are just going to keep killing them this fast. Should we hold a funeral for it?"

Dez stuck her tongue out at the giggling girl next her and shook her head. "Be quiet you, or I'll drive like a crazy lady."

"You already _are_." To make her point she stuck her tongue out further than Dez could.

Dez's eyes narrow slightly, "_So_ not cute."

Hikaru, fed up with just watching their conversation, abruptly put in his two cents, "Says you," and regretted it immediately.

Kaoru leaned over to his brother and whispered in his ear, "Oh really brother?" The smirk on his face was so natural and at home there that it was like he had been born that way.

Hikaru felt an unusual heat creeping over his face and his instant reaction was to elbow his twin in the side, "Shut up, Kaoru."

Kaoru elbowed back, "Eh? What was that?"

"Nothing..."

Dez glanced at the rear view mirror just in time to catch the edge of Hikaru's blush. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep the stupid grin that wanted to seep across her face at bay. 'Jeez, they get just about the same amount of pleasure teasing each other as they do girls.' She slapped the back of Katie's seat to help turn toward them so she could look them in the eyes. "Enough twincest you two," she grumbled to herself, "At least when I'm unable to watch..."

"Twincest?" The twins chorused, tipping their heads to the side in a jokingly innocent manner.

"Brotherly love...only to romantic extremes." Katie offered as an explanation.

"Oh..." Hikaru glanced at his brother. "You like..."

"This?" They asked the older girl as they wrapped their arms around each other and they pulled each other unbearably close. Hikaru leaned forward only slightly, so that his younger brother was in a more submissive position to help the staring girls start forming some fangirl obsessiveness in their heads.

"Oh...my god." Dez clapped her hands over her mouth and nose to hide the nosebleed that was now leaking between her fingers.

"Be decent!" None of them could tell who Katie was directing her words at, but the boys slowly let go of each other obediently, only because they had gotten the reaction that they wanted out of Dez.

"Look! Dirty thoughts!" Katie opened the glove box and threw a portable box of tissues at the driver-to-be.

Dez, as a late reaction, threw her hands over Katie's eyes to divert her senses from the twins in the backseat. "Look away Katie! Shield your virgin eyes!" She watched Katie fall out of the jeep as the taller girl suddenly moved away from the gory hands that had tried to 'help' her.

Hikaru and Kaoru stood slightly from their seats and looked at the collapsed form on the ground. "Is she okay?"

Katie popped up only slightly dazed and stared at the three faces that gawked at her from inside the vehicle. Little did she know everyone else could see a partial red hand print on her face front where Dez had hit her. "Owwie."

"KATIE!" Dez threw herself across the seats and flopped onto Katie's lap, "Miss Katie, I'm so sorry!" She hugged Katie as the boys shook their heads and sat back down.

'You should be...' Hikaru watched the girls climb back in and jumped when Katie suddenly grabbed the other girl's hand, stopping her from starting the car.

"Dez..."

"Yeah Katie?" Dez grinned happily.

"Where are your glasses?"

"Glasses?" Kaoru asked, "What glasses?"

"Um...I...lost them?" Dez continued to smile, albeit more fake that before.

"You...lost them. You think it's still okay to drive _without_ them?" Katie raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Aw, c'mon Katie! As long as I can see the oncoming traffic as colored shiny blobs and I know if the traffic light is green or red what difference does it make?" Dez winced slightly, knowing that the normally calm Katie just got chucked out of her non-existent window.

"Difference? The difference is that you have 20-50 vision without them! That's horrible! That's illegal! Where the heck did you loose them? Did you misplace them in your apartment or something?"

Dez cut her off. "Don't even bring my apartment into this, Kathryn." Her eyes narrowed. "I didn't loose them there."

"Right, it's too small to loose them there."

"What did I just—!"

Katie opened the sunglasses compartment and pulled out a pair of cat's-eye shaped, indigo-rimmed glasses. "Put them on or I'll make fun of you loosing them in your _jeep_."

Dez slipped them on and looked at them in her mirror, they looked mostly unscathed. She preferred her looks with them anyway, she had just misplaced them when she had met the twins. "Okay..._Now_ off we go!" She tossed the tissues back to Katie and made a slight motion of cleaning off her face...the blood was still there.

--

The twins easily got used to the difference that the glasses made to their driver's look. They actually were a nice touch they decided as they whispered under the throb of the music that pulsed out of the speakers. Kaoru leaned against his brother a bit more so he could lean up between the seats so the girls could hear him over the wind and notes. "We're bored."

"Are we there yet?" Hikaru leaned up too, resting his chin briefly on Katie's shoulder.

Dez reached back and shoved both their faces back. "Shut up."

Kaoru sat back and sighed, "This thing goes _really_ slow." He watched Dez glare at him by means of the rear view mirror and almost laughed out loud at the look that was trying to rip the flesh off of his face. "It's fun to bug them." He grinned impishly to his brother.

A few minutes later Dez bounced slightly and half-turned to the girl next to her, "Look Katie! NO HANDS!"

"DEZ!" Katie nearly screamed, "Your knees are supposed to touch the steering wheel when you do that!"

Dez took the wheel in her hands and pointed at the dotted line that marked the breakdown lane, "Katie! Look!" She smirked when she saw the taller girl get distracted instantly.

"Ooh, pretty lines." Her eyes and head moved minutely as she followed its movements.

'And so my summer begins.' Dez mused to herself as she smirked at Katie's actions and the incredulous looks that were painted on the twins faces as they watched the brownie-eyed girl. 'As crazy as it is, I really wouldn't rather have it any other way.' The brunette sighed to herself and continued on her way to the cottage.

--

Dez slowed down and turned sharply to her left, smiling to herself at the dove gray two-story cottage that waited for life to enter it once again. She parked and hopped out instantly, just barely overcoming her urge to run up the two steps onto the minute deck that lead to the front door. "I'll unlock it and turn on the water and electricity, can you bring in my bag Katie?"

Katie nodded as she put her iPod in her pocket. She turned in her seat just in time to see the face that the guys shared that obviously said, 'The electricity was _off_?!' It was all she could do to not laugh.

Dez flipped through her keys until she found the right one and unlocked the door. She made a beeline through the tidy kitchen to her left, where the pantry and shower room waited for her attention. She knelt in front of a pump about the size of her torso and batted some spiderwebs away from the switch she was aiming for.

Katie smiled and started to get out of the jeep as the boys finally figured out how to move the driver's seat forward so they could get out. As she climbed out her foot got tangled in the belt and Hikaru just barely managed to catch her in time. Her eyes widened as she looked up at the face that hovered mere inches away from her own.

Hikaru brushed away the blush that threatened to decorate his cheeks as he mumbled, "Be careful."

"Yeah," Katie shamelessly turned a bright red as she righted herself and tugged at her tee-hoodie. "Th-thanks."

Kaoru hopped out after grabbing his bag as well as his twin's. He withheld a chuckle as he headed toward the house before him, marveling at how _small_ it was. He stepped inside the door and blinked at the foyer that consisted of enough space for him and his brother to stand in...as well as a set of stairs that twisted at a breakneck angle. "Dez-kun?" He turned toward his right and shuffled into the kitchen.

His golden gaze slid over the wooden crate filled with old newspapers and the cast iron wood stove that sat merrily beside it. The brown tiled floor was slightly faded in some of the high traffic areas, and an arch was worn into the floor in front of the door that seemed to lead out onto a deck.

He carefully put the bags down in front of the large refrigerator that loomed on his right as he glanced over at the sink that faced it from across the room. Aha, there was a doorway... "Dez-kun?"

"Over here." She stuck a hand through the opening and waved a bit to catch his attention. She stood with amazing grace for someone in a skort that short and brushed some dust off of herself. 'So much dust, I am _not _looking forward to cleaning this place.' She stepped out of the pantry and pointed at the teal door beyond where she had knelt. "That's the shower room and pantry. Um, we can tour later...once we start cleaning."

'Cleaning? No one ever told me...oh well, it'll be worth it later.' Kaoru bit back a sigh and looked around the kitchen and spotted a white door that had hidden behind the fridge. "A tour might help."

"Do you want to share a room with your brother?" Dez almost hit herself. 'If he was a real teenage boy he wouldn't. Gads, I blame the world of shoujo manga for me knowing too much about him. I never thought that would be possible!'

"Yeah...but are there enough beds?"

The brunette almost rolled her eyes at him as she walked over to the door and opened it, revealing a dining room on the other side. "Of course. The front bedroom has two single beds, the middle room has a double and a single and the back bedroom has a double." She sighed wistfully, "I'm usually in the back bedroom, but since Hikaru-kun and you are guests you should pick."

"Oh, um, you can have the back room. I don't mind at all."

"Thanks. I'll share it with Katie. You and your brother can take the front room. I'll take you there so you can put your stuff somewhere." She offered her hand to take one of his bags.

Kaoru put both of his bags in one hand and took hers with his free one. His sly smile grew when a faint blush flattered her usually tanned cheeks. 'I hope she can still think straight.'

Instead of letting her blush fade, Dez squeezed his hand slightly and ignored the flare of her embarrassed cheeks. She lead him through the dining room that had a large and formal set table on the left, facing a large bay window that looked out onto the deck, the fields and shore below and a smaller table on the right. Bookshelves lined both walls that were shared with the living room beyond. The colors in the house were calming and cool in the dining room compared to the warm browns of the kitchen.

The couch and love seat framed a long coffee table that supported a pile of sudoku and other puzzle games. A mismatched but very comfortable armchair sat snugly behind the door to the dining room, a boat-shaped hunk of marble holding the door open.

Dez paused as she opened the other door and revealed a hallway that was only about four paces long that had the 'front door' to their right and a small bathroom at the end. She let Kaoru's hand slip from hers as she turned to the left and headed up the stairs, stopping at the gray circuit breaker that waited for her to turn the power on.

Kaoru blinked at the door to the bathroom. Written in a ornate and hand-made way was a sign. He couldn't read much of English in cursive but he could read this. The colored paper sign cheerfully held the words: 'If it's Yellow, Let it Mellow. If it's Brown, Flush it Down.' It didn't take him long to understand what the sign meant. He turned away from it sharply and tried to burn its image from his mind. 'Vulgar sign.'

Kaoru looked up the stairs to see that Dez was waiting for him with an unreadable look on her face. He studied it discreetly as he trotted up the stairs to join her yet again.

"This is the other bathroom, tiny, I know..." She pointed into the little nook that was directly to their right. The room was so small that the toilet had a sink built into the top of the tank. At the top of the stairs was another small hallway, with only two doors branching off of it. The closest door was practically in front of them and the other was at the end of the hall, the door sitting on the left.

The doors were light blue and had eight holes at the top and bottom set in vertical pairs for better ventilation. A glass knob squeaked as Dez twisted it and opened the door slowly. She smiled at the room fondly before squeaking herself as Katie and Hikaru popped up from the stairwell suddenly and surprised her.

"Hey Dez? What's in this room?" Katie walked into the room before Dez, looking around. She plopped onto one of the single beds, and nearly jumped back up when the springs underneath the mattress groaned at the sudden weight.

"Beds, a bureau...a walk-in closet. Oh look, a full length mirror. Jeez, Katie. Do I need to narrate for you? Last I knew, those brown circles in your face were eyes." Dez rolled her eyes at Katie.

"What's in the closet?"

"Not sure, I haven't been here in a few months, and everyone else hasn't come here for at least two years. They've all stayed in Connecticut." Dez watched the younger girl stand cheerfully and walk over to the curtain covering the doorway.

"Can I look?" The question was innocent enough, but for some reason Dez was dreading it.

"Well..."

"Please!" Katie had one hand gripped to the tan curtain and the other tugged on the hem of Dez's tank top. She widened her eyes on purpose and pouted slimly, knowing that her infamous puppy-dog face would break the brunette.

"Oh all right." Dez watched Katie pull on the curtains, and she remembered. That closet was where she had been storing all of her twinly fandom. 'Oh snap,' she thought as Katie gawked.

"Oh...my...gawd...Dez..." Katie's eyes threatened to fall out of her head as they took in posters upon posters of the twins. Some were on a the types of racks that one might find in a store where one could page through the collection. She stepped into the closet, turning on the overhead light, and started to page through them.

"Obsessive much?" Hikaru snorted, only disturbed by it all on the inside. For some reason it was too much fun to pick on the short girl, and like hell was he going to pass up an opportunity.

"It...isn't _that_ bad..." Kaoru's voice trailed off as he watched Katie page through the posters. Where had those all come from? Who was stalking them well enough to draw such detailed fan art? These thoughts were borderline perturbing.

Dez stepped toward Katie when she recognized what poster she was at. 'Oh shit.' She reached out to stop Katie. "Katie...!"

Katie make some sort of noise that sounded like a crossbreed between and giggle, gasp and a snort. Dez was sure that the snort part was mostly to mock her, but she didn't occupy that thought long since Katie had fainted...with a bloody nose.

"Is she o—OH MY GOD!" Kaoru had seen the poster that had made the prone form on the floor start bleeding.

"Holy shit man...holy shit." Hikaru couldn't believe his eyes. The posters that were now visible just happened to be covered with both twins...both _shirtless_ twins...both shirtless twins who were dripping wet, in swimming trunks _and_ in a very compromising and twincestuous position.

Dez quickly closed the curtain of the closet and, by some great act of a divine power, didn't blush. 'Gods above, please...end my pitiful life now? Like, open the ground below me and swallow me.' She paused, but her wish was not granted. 'Thanks...' She knelt beside Katie and tried to pick her up but didn't know where to start.

"Um...is she okay?" Hikaru bent over, his hands on his knees, to look at Katie.

"SHE'S ACTUALLY FAINTED!" The girl's expressions mixed between happiness and worry. Her inner sarcasm had been chucked away at her sudden revelation.

"It was kind of obvious that she wasn't used to guys but...damn. That's pathetic." Kaoru shook his head.

"Aw, my Katie has had her very first bad thoughts!" She sniffled and scooped the unconscious girl up and hugged her to her chest. "They grow up so fast!"

Hikaru looked around the room and spotted a box of tissues on the dresser. He nabbed them and pulled a few out and began to dab at the blood on Katie's face. "Shouldn't we take care of the blood before it starts to stain?" He glanced down at his own white tee and was glad that he wasn't the one holding Katie. His jeans he wouldn't have minded, but white and blood don't work together well.

Dez looked down at her chest and saw the splotches of blood staining the thin material. She bit back a raunchy curse and settled for, "Oh my farking jeezum crow!" She grabbed a tissue from Hikaru and began to scrub at her shirt front. She noticed how Kaoru flailed slightly next to her, as if he wanted to help. 'That's sweet of him, but there is no way I'm letting his hands so close to my...' She didn't finish the thought for the sake of keeping her face untinted.

Hikaru helped Katie sit up and continued to clean her face and neck some before wondering if his brother needed his help. 'Well, as long as he doesn't put his hands where they don't belong I don't see him being in any immediate danger.' He revised his thoughts as he paused to see Katie's eyelids flutter open. 'Well, that Dez-girl _is_ quite unpredictable...maybe he should be on his guard a little more.'

Katie blushed, remembering the posters, and took the tissue from Hikaru to scrub her own shirt, avoiding his gaze. 'Oh jeez, this is how my summer is going to start? These four days are going to be crazy!' She pondered for a moment as everyone stood and they laughed off what had just happened to make dinner.

--

'Screw four days, this whole summer is going to be a trip. Dez and I know full well that summer romances will hurt us in the end...' Her thoughts drifted off for a moment as she caught herself staring at Hikaru as they ate and joked. 'But maybe...it couldn't hurt too much.' Katie picked up some of the plates and dumped them into the hot water that waited for her to do the dishes. 'We'll do our best to stay friends.' She blew some of the soap bubbles at Dez, who retaliated with a gentle slap of the towel...which missed her and hit Hikaru in the back of his head.

"Oops?" Dez chuckled and dashed behind Kaoru for protection while Katie smiled fondly.

'Only friends.' Katie took the towel from Dez and handed it to Hikaru. "Get out of here. There isn't enough room in here, but at least there is more than in your—"

"I get it!" Dez broke in. "Color me gone. C'mon Kaoru, I wanna show you something on my laptop."

"Craptop." Katie corrected with a cough as Dez walked out with the younger twin on her heels. 'He's like a puppy...and I doubt he's even noticed it.' She passed a dish to Hikaru and blushed when their fingers brushed. She didn't look up and see an identical one on the boy's face because she was too busy reminding herself, '_only_ friends.'


	4. Outing Trips and Fashion Tips

**WORD COUNT:** _7,227 _**(before edit)**

**NOTE: **_Wow! Four chapters!!! This is so amazing. Kreative and I have decided that if we wanted to get all of this story up, as well as the sequel (yes, there will be a sequel!), I need to punch out a chapter about every 10 days. I'm going to be doing my best, so please come check it out more often (once a month was pretty bad, I admit)._

_We have great news to announce! We have a new beta-boy just for this story! Please, everyone welcome __**Gatamigo**__!_

**STORY SO FAR: **Two high school girls, Desiree Boucharde and Kathryn Carmen, are as normal as they can be with their manga-addictions, random bouts of drawing/writing/singing, and cheerfully contagious attitudes. On one of the last days of high school before summer vacation they run into the last two people they'd ever expect to see, the handsome Hitachiin twins from Ouran High School Host Club, one of their favorite stories! After a hurried conversation in a B&N bookstore, the girls decide to do their best to interest the boys in hanging out, offering to show them the more entertaining side of Maine. They all agree to go to the summer home of Dez's grandparents and enjoy the quiet side of the Maine coast. But as everyone knows, with this combination on teens, nothing can truly be that quiet.

**DISCLAIMER:** _We (Kreative Kathryn and I) do not own Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin. __Please look elsewhere ^_^_

Chapter Four: Outing Trips and Fashion Tips

Kaoru stopped counting the little cracks in the ceiling paint. "Hey Hikaru?" He turned his head toward his brother, who was already facing his direction. "How long have we been waiting?"

Hikaru's eyes drifted lazily toward the clock over the bureau. "At least two hours." It was nine. "I'm bored." He kicked off his blankets and let the cold air rush in and envelop him.

"Well, so am I!" Kaoru didn't kick off the sheets, wanting to stay as warm as he could until he couldn't stand his boredom any longer.

Hikaru stood, twisted and flopped onto the side of his twin's bed, before laying back. He heard Kaoru grunt from the added weight, but smirked devilishly all the same. "So...do you think we should," he paused to chuckle darkly, "wake them up?"

Kaoru shoved his brother up slowly so he could disentangle himself from the bedclothes and walk to the door. "Why yes, I believe we should."

Hikaru opened the door to the middle room as slowly and silently as he could. The door still creaked, which made both brothers flinch. They peeked around the door and crept into the middle room. It was still cold, but at least there were braided rugs underfoot. The only noises where their excited breaths and the whisper of flannel pajama bottoms.

Kaoru reached out and pulled the bronze handle to the back bedroom and peered around the corner. 'My god...' He froze in the doorway until Hikaru pushed him forward.

Hikaru looked from the two girls snuggled close under the heap of blankets, to his blushing sibling and back. Each time his eyes traveled to a different face his grin got a little smugger. Perfect. "Ha Kaoru!" His voice was hushed and he prodded the younger boy in the forehead, "You're blushing." He walked up to the bed as if it were empty. "C'mon. I mean, yeah, it's cute and all but you need to keep a cool head if you want to wake them up."

Kaoru crossed the room silently until he mirrored his brother's position on the other side of the bed, nearer to the small brunette that lay curled in the taller girl's arms.

"Follow my lead." Hikaru took a handful of blankets, but didn't wait for his brother. "Like thi—" He froze mid-sentence as he whisked the blankets off of the bed. A pin dropped in the time it took for Hikaru to stumble back and clasp his hands over the bloody nose. He didn't—couldn't—tear his eyes away from the sight that laid before him on the bed. He barely saw in his peripheral vision the red shade that had darkened on his brother's cheeks.

On the bed before them was Katie and Dez, alright, but both girls were cuddled right up against the other. Both had happy-dream-faces, and it was apparent that neither knew two hot-blooded teenage boys were staring at their scantily clad bodies. Their legs were slightly interlaced, their tank tops rumpled, and Dez's boxers were twisted halfway around the wrong way...but she was asleep and had yet to notice how uncomfortable that was.

Kaoru covered his mouth as he began to laugh at the expression on his brother's face, not caring if the girls awoke suddenly.

Katie slept on, not having been awake in the first place. Dez, however, had been putting around in her little half-conscious world for the passed half hour and awoke with a jolt. She blinked and assessed her surroundings, trying to figure out why she had woken up. She groused about her lost dream that had some very attractive guys in it as she took in the cold, the sunlight, the boys...Wait, boys?!

Dez sat up and bit back a screech, as well as refrained from throwing things at them. She paused and rethought her plan of action. She could throw things at Hikaru...but Kaoru was special. She shook herself mentally before turning toward Katie and shaking her shoulder, "Katie."

"Aw, Dez...it's vacation!" Katie complained into her pillow. She grabbed around for another and pulled it over her face for a moment to block out the light. She changed her mind when she couldn't breathe and chucked it at the brunette.

"Katie." Dez's voice was firmer now. She hadn't particularly liked being hit in the face with a pillow. She shook the younger girl's shoulder again but to no avail. She was dead to the world yet again.

Hikaru smirked, "Lemme try." He didn't notice the fiery look that flared in the brunette's eyes, he was too busy staring at Katie. He knelt in front of her and leaned close.

"Come on, Dezy...Don't _worry_. They can't possibly be awake by now. Now give me a little space. I can feel you breathing on me."

"You sure it's her?"Shocked brownie eyes snapped open,and His eyes lit up as Katie squeaked and jumped back, flattening the short girl at the same time. 'Well, that was more entertaining than I thought it would be. That shorty had it coming.'

Dez's muffled laughing could be heard from underneath Katie, who had yet to realize that she was a) squishing her friend and b) turning red at such a rate that on anyone else it would be alarming.

"That...was _so_ funny!" Dez shoved Katie off of her face and wriggled out from under her, nearly falling off of the other side of the bed. A hand rested on her chest as she slowly breathed to calm herself down.

"I bet you put him up to it!" Katie huffed, sitting up and crossing her arms across her chest. Her glare was heated momentarily and didn't improve when the shorter girl gave her an innocent face and twiddled her thumbs absently. She sighed and reached behind her, grabbing the pillow she had been cuddling into and flopped it over Dez's face.

"Oi!" She threw it off of her head and across the room, ignoring the sudden bed head. "It was his own idea."

Kaoru smirked to himself, 'Heh, let's see my brother get out of _this _one.' He raised an eyebrow at the almost pleading look that the older twin gave him for a second. He returned with a cool 'what are you looking at me for?' look. He was digging his own grave.

"Well, I...um, but!" His not-so intelligent spluttering wasn't doing much to convince either girl that his intentions were innocent.

"Yes?" Katie coaxed, leaning toward him. She fixated on him so much that she didn't realize how close she was leaning to him until Dez reached over and dragged her back onto the bed by her shirt before she fell.

"You...just get dressed. We're bored. We'll go find something to do." He stood and scuffed his foot against the braided rug to hide how flustered he was. If he had any tendency to act like a small child, he probably would have shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Okay!" Dez chirped, obviously gloating on the inside at Hikaru's uncharacteristic shyness.

Ten minutes later was punctuated with two pairs of feet trotting down the back stairs as two chattering girls descended none-too-gracefully toward the living room where the impatient twins sat waiting. Dez had a clip in her mouth and was dragging her dampened locks to the back in a messy bun so she could get it all off the neck while her counterpart occasionally 'tsk'ed and tried to take the clip away and fix it for her. Such a feat was entertaining to watch.

"Took you long enough!" Kaoru griped half-heartedly as he looked up at the pair standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, I mean—" Hikaru glanced up only to do a double-take. "OH MY GOD! _What_ are you wearing?!"

Katie peered down at the jean cut-offs and her tee. She ignored Dez's quiet snicker and smarmy remark about 'how _gay_ Hikaru just sounded'. She met the golden gaze and tried to push back a pout. "What's wrong with what we're wearing?"

"Why are you—" Hikaru began, rubbing his temples.

"—dressed so plainly?" Kaoru finished bluntly.

Dez froze momentarily, as though hit by his words physically. "Hey...For normal people we stand out!" She met their unbelieving look dead on. 'I'm not giving in to that superior look, fangirl or not!' she thought vehemently. She caved only seconds later, "...a bit."

Hikaru stood and crossed his arms over his chest, "And jeez, Katie-kun. Are you wearing a general _brand name_?"

"OI!" Dez stomped out in front of Katie, breaking away from the eye-lock she had been in. "Don't pick on my Katie! She works with what she has!"

Kaoru rolled his eyes and gave Hikaru a 'mournful' look. "We _were _going to save this for last, but in times like these..."

"...it's becomes first priority." Hikaru declared, gold eyes fixing to Katie's clothes. "I can't believe you're fans of Mom's...dressing like that."

"No fashion sense." Kaoru agreed solemnly.

"We do too!" Katie blurted. She could only take so much teasing before wanting to snap back at them. It's not like she didn't try. With thrift stores being her most common shopping choice (besides the dollar store for getting cute hair clips and arts and crafts odd-n-ends to decorate her clothes) she had little to work with, but at least her parents would pay for her back-to-school wardrobe. Dez had to pay for everything herself and refused help from Katie. The twins could pick on _her_, but teasing Dez—who was like her older sister—was something completely different. "We just don't have the funds."

"Besides," Dez pointed a finger at Hikaru, a smug look on her face, "if _you_ had any fashion sense you wouldn't be wearing plaid. It may be currently in fashion in Europe, but that means it won't be 'in' until _at least _four months from now. This is _Maine_." She had no problem admitting that her home was behind the times in fashion.

"Hey! Don't turn this on me, Shorty!" His golden eyes were cold and locked onto a deadly silver-blue gaze.

"Shorty?!" The brunette almost shouted indignantly. "What are you asking for, _boy_?!"

"Bah!" Kaoru stepped between them, placing a hand on Hikaru's chest and the other on Dez's head, almost laughing at how convenient her height was at the moment. "Come on, you girls both need a makeover. Let's just get it over with."

Dez stepped back and willed herself not to smack the hand away, or bite it. 'It's Kaoru, it's not his fault his brother is totally uncouth. Must not...hit them!' She took a deep breath and leaned against the entertainment center. "So what's wrong with our clothes again?" She couldn't hold back the haughty lilt in her tone.

"For the last time," Kaoru sounded halfway between panicked and exasperated, "Nothing's wrong!"

"Just think of it as an upgrade!" Katie chirped energetically.

"And you!" The brunette's anger twitched almost visibly on her forehead as she turned on her 'sister'. She bit back a particularly nasty remark and settled for, "How the hell can you be so _happy_ this early in the morning!" She stomped out of the room, a glower set onto her features. Her hand twitched as she refrained from grabbing the door and slamming it behind her as she stalked out to the back deck to get some air.

"Holy crap." The boys chorused.

Kaoru gulped, "She just bit your head off for no reason!"

Katie sighed and began to follow the stormy-eyed girl, "Yeah, she's not really a morning person during vacation...unless she wakes up on her own. Her mom's been pressuring her too." She eyed the boys with a raised brow, "Plus, making fun of her style and blatantly ignoring her lack of funds to get anything nice just kicked her further down a pit." She left the room, the twins staring after her with near-terrified looks.

'Oops...' Kaoru glanced at his brother before following Katie.

'Aw, crap! What did I ever do to deserve this?' Hikaru grumbled to himself. Begrudgingly, he went after Katie and Kaoru, hoping that he was about to see a miracle mood shift in the curly-haired French-fry.

--

"Why are we just standing here?" Katie looked at the store in front of her. She _knew_ why Dez and she hadn't entered. This place wasn't somewhere they would normally enter. It was so off their personal maps (as well their as radar) that they had nearly walked passed the old boutique as if it wasn't even there.

The sign above was a faded blue and the metallic gold calligraphy that scribed the shop's name was chipped but still dignified in its ornateness. Large windows framed either side of the old wooden door, displaying all sorts of dresses within. A few vases filled with dried flowers covered the manikins feet—or lack thereof.

Kaoru and Hikaru sighed in unison and pushed the girls toward the door, ignoring their protests about how they didn't belong there. Once they were inside the door they couldn't move them any further. They smirked to each other as they glanced down at the silently gawking girls.

"Have either of you ever been to a place like this?" Kaoru asked, already knowing the answer.

Dez shook her head silently and absentmindedly tucked the hair that had fallen out of her clip behind her ear. It was still slightly damp from the cold water she had doused her head, with aide of her hose, when she stormed from the house. She blinked slowly and looked around at all the dresses and skirts and fancy looking clothes. 'They can't be serious. Katie and I...in a dress? They wish!' She was about to protest, 'Wait a minute. Maybe the boys will be just the right kind of peer pressure so I can see Katie in a dress!'

"Nope!" Katie smiled brightly at the boys. 'And I'm not returning either, if all they have are dresses.'

Hikaru smacked his forehead from his spot behind her, "You've _got_ to be kidding me."

Both twins then started to drag—or escort, as they insisted—the girls throughout the racks, pulling out a few things at a time. They looked the girls up and down as they followed slowly, assessing silently what would look best. Limited words were exchanged (except when either Katie or Dez protested to one thing or another) to express what they should pick.

'Come on, I mean...do they honestly think we've ever been to a place like this?' Katie thought as the twins ushered them to the dressing rooms, a very preppy outfit shoved into each girl's arms.

'Are they kidding?' Dez groused as she stepped out, 'We're commoners. We've never even been in a store like this because we could _never_ afford it!' She glared at Hikaru as he burst out laughing. 'Definitely uncouth.' Her glaring daggers was interrupted when Kaoru put something else into her arms and pushed her back toward the dressing room, with Katie following willingly so she could change out of the clothes she currently was in. 'But it's amusing them.'

"Hey Dez?" Katie whispered near their shared wall of the dressing rooms.

"Yeah, Katie?" Dez swallowed as she stared at her reflection. She couldn't believe that was her in the reflection.

"We can't afford this stuff, can we?" She tugged the dress over her head and ruffled her hair before taking some clips out of her purse to fix her hair. 'There...that's good.'

"Not even the shoes." Dez slipped her foot into the ballet slipper-esque shoe. Then were surprisingly comfortable.

'That figures.' Katie sighed. "Are you done yet?"

"Yes. This is the last thing I'm trying on, I swear." She sighed deeply and took the clip out of her hair, letting it curl and rest gently around her face and brush her back and collar bones. "They keep this up and I'll put makeup on." Dez opened the door and stepped out of the changing room silently and—remarkably—with an air of grace. She cleared her throat softly to catch the twins attention.

Kaoru looked up from the magazine that was in his hands, "Well, took you long enough..." He froze before he finished his comment.

'Oh brother,' Hikaru rolled his eyes at his gawking sibling.

Dez glanced nervously at the three mirrors to her right that showed her standing there in a few different angles. The sun dress's soft mint green cloth clung gently to her abdomen and flared at her hips, accenting the milk chocolate colored swirls that stretched up from the bottom almost like vines. The v-neck arched up over her shoulders and scooped low in the back, the straps secured by a lone tie at the base of her shoulder blades. She almost grumbled at remembering her difficulties with trying to fasten it, even now it was loosely tied.

She shrugged slightly, to get a feel for the dress, causing the hem to lift. She nearly laughed when the fabric, ending in a brown lace, brushed the tops of her knees. The two extra straps made of a silky lace that matched the edging hung over her upper arms, leaving a diamond of shoulder bare on each side, which whispered over her skin in that movement. She shifted, revealing more of the matching chocolate half leggings in the process, "Do I...look bad?"

Hikaru snorted, "Yeah."

"No," Kaoru breathed, still taken by the girl before him.

Dez looked up as the younger twin stood and stepped behind her and retied the lacing in the back, his fingers ghosting over the sensitive flesh where her tattooed wings were. Dez was distracted enough by Kaoru's touch that she almost forgot to shoot a glare that promised a slow and creative death to his twin. _Almost. _She stepped toward Hikaru, her eyes flashing a dangerous blue-gray before turning a sudden sapphire as Kaoru spoke.

"Hey, where's Katie-chan?"

"Now that you mention it," Dez turned suddenly, the dress flaring out enough that it was a good thing she had the leggings on. "She was supposed to come out right behind me!" She skipped over to the door and knocked, "Katie? Are you okay, sweetheart?"

"I'm f-fine!" Katie's voice quivered slightly. She couldn't take her eyes off of her reflection. 'Oh, dammit! Why am I here? Why did I let Dez get me into this!' Her face was bright red, contrasting sharply with the clothes she wore.

"Aren't you going to come out?" Dez leaned against the door jamb as she watched Hikaru and Kaoru inch closer to hear their conversation.

"No! Not in this thing!" The shrill voice quivered.

"What do you mean?" Dez turned toward the door and cocked her head to the side.

"No way...just NO WAY!" She bit her bottom lip, "I'm not coming out like this!"

Dez looked puzzled for only a few more seconds. Her eyes lit up as it dawned on her. "You didn't, by any chance, give Katie a dress too? Especially of the pink variety?" She hadn't seen what Hikaru had put into the younger girl's hands before shoving her into the stall.

"Why?" Kaoru asked.

"Katie can't _stand_ wearing dresses, let alone the color pink."

"Oh, it isn't pink, but..." Hikaru smirked proudly.

"You..." Dez slunk toward him, her eyes narrowed, until she was as eye-to-eye with him as she could possibly get. "You gave her a dress?" She waited for his answer, holding back any laughter at his frightened look.

"Y-yeah." Hikaru responded, thoroughly freaked out by the short spitfire's attentions. "Why?"

Dez spun around at Mach speed and began to pound on the door of Katie's dressing room. "Katie!" She whined, "Now you gotta come out!"

"What's wrong with dresses?"

"Nothing," a mischievous glint flashed in the deep blue eyes, "just the fact that she refuses to wear them. Ever. I've never seen her wear one before."

"Liar! The Winter Ball you did!" Katie squeaked from the other side of the door.

"Pfft, that was a gown, not a normal dress." Dez reasoned, "Come on, please come out?"

"There is nothing normal about dresses!" Katie retorted, gripping the doorknob in hopes that it was locked and the shorter girl wasn't going to kick the door in. She had seen her friend wield some serious out-of-nowhere-no-jutsu and get into just about anywhere she wanted with little to no effort. She cringed to think of the cost of replacing a door in a place like this.

"Yeah Katie-chan," Kaoru joined in on the pleading, elbowing Hikaru. "Please?"

Hikaru sighed silently and caved, "Please."

They waited as the door clicked to an unlocked position. "Promise not to laugh?"

"Promise!" the group outside the door looked exasperated.

"Fine." Katie opened the door and stepped out, bracing herself for whatever reaction might come. When no one said anything she looked at Dez, who looked like she was about to jump on her any second. A quick glance to each of the boys showed that Kaoru looked on the verge of laughter...and Hikaru couldn't stop _staring_.

'She looks too cute!' Dez wanted to squeal, 'Almost like a doll! I hate to admit it, but Hikaru knows what to pick out for Katie.'

"What?!" The tall girl squeaked at Hikaru's blanked face. She smoothed the light blue tank top sun dress, nervously. She glanced down to see if there was something on the white tee that she wore underneath it and checked to make sure that the blue star button necklace on the white string it was on faced the front. She turned quickly, trying to look at the big red bow that encircled her waist, to check if it was lopsided. "Does it look bad or something?" She stared down at the black Mary Janes that shod her feet, completing her outfit.

'My god,' Dez and Hikaru's thoughts were in sync. 'She is so cute.'

"Well, come on. It's time to change back into your normal clothes so we can go pay." Kaoru had finally reigned in his silent laughter.

"Pay?" Dez's attention snapped away from the red bow on the barrette Katie had clipped into her hair.

"Um, sorry to disappoint you but...we don't have that kind of money for this. As nice as it all is, we can't afford this." Katie ignored the flush that crept into her cheeks.

Hikaru rolled his eyes, "We didn't expect you to. _We're_ paying for it."

"Really?" Dez did her best to beat down the hopeful sound in her voice, albeit unsuccessfully.

"B-but you can't do that!" Katie protested, freaking out in the process. "I saw the prices! Way, _way_ too expensive! You can't pay for that!"

Hikaru raised an eyebrow, every inch of him screaming 'upper class, bitches'. "What if we _want_ to?" He smirked. "It's not that expensive to us." He leaned close to her, inching his way closer until Katie's face was a bright vermilion.

"N-no way! I couldn't let y-you d-do that!" She diverted her eyes.

"Please?" He leaned in even closer.

"W-well, if you i-insist." Katie gave up so her face wouldn't explode.

"Yay!" Dez grinned happily and threw her arms around Kaoru's middle energetically. "Thank you!"

The startled twin wrapped his arms around her in return, almost relaxing into the nice hug, "Your welcome, cutie!" He froze, 'Oh crap, did I just call her that aloud?' By the look that Hikaru was giving him, plus the awkward silence, he had.

"Well, then!" Katie and Hikaru chorused.

"Let's go pay." Hikaru shepherded Katie away from a pink Kaoru and an even pinker Dez.

"Right behind you!" Katie giggled, "I mean, beside you."

"Uh, wanna go pay?" Dez blurted quickly, the least graceful thing she had done yet for the day.

Kaoru didn't meet her eyes, wanting to control his coloring cheeks as soon as he could, "Sure, let's go." He took her hand gently and pulled her toward the cashier where Katie stood with arms out on either side as the business lady cut tags and scanned them in to get paid.

--

Hikaru and Kaoru's stomachs growled in unison as the stepped outside of the boutique, their wallets minutely lightened. Dez nearly laughed at the bewildered looks on the faces before her. She couldn't decide if Kaoru's appalled look was funnier than Katie's startled one. It was as if she thought the boys bellies were going to jump and eat her.

"Hey, um...We're kinda—" Kaoru began.

"God, just say it! We're hungry!" Hikaru rolled his eyes. It wasn't like his brother to pussy-foot around things like this. They were _commoners_ for Pete's sake! They knew hunger easily and those sorts of noises weren't surprising. It wasn't as if they had people to impress.

"Um, Dez? It is 12:30, think it's time for lunch?" Katie tugged on the strap of the older girl's purse.

Dez stopped walking and looked at the shops around them, humming to herself. "Now that you mention it..." her thought trailed off as she spotted the sign she was looking for. "I am a bit peckish." She headed down the street toward the smell of food. "Now as to wear to go...hmm. Oh, I know! We can go to Athens'!" She grinned and spun around, walking backwards in front of Kaoru and Katie. She reached out and grasped her own hands together while trapping Kaoru's wrist with hers. 'It's not obviously holding hands this way, ha!'

"Um, don't you think we should stay in the _country_ for lunch?" Kaoru tugged her toward him and slid his fingers between hers, enjoying the ripe pink her cheeks turned.

Katie bit back a snarf1 as she laughed uproariously on the inside.

"I didn't mean Athens, Greece. I meant the Grecian Pizzeria that's called Athens." She grabbed Katie's hand and dared the guys to object with her gaze. "It's only half a block away, and they have the _best_ pizza. It's got feta and mozzarella, with spinach, artichoke and mushrooms. It's so good!" The looks on everyone else's faces weren't encouraging. "Oh come ON!" She whipped out her best 'pity me and do as I say' look, "Please?"

"Okay." Kaoru and Katie sighed in unison.

"Pfft...losers." Hikaru chuckled to himself.

Dez rounded onto him, her eyes a sharp gray-blue. "_What_ was that?" Her anger bristled around her and was nearly visible.

"Nothing!" He blurted quickly.

"That's what I thought." Dez scoffed as she turned about, leading them toward the shop.

"Whipped..." Hikaru muttered under his breath as his eyes flicked from Katie to Kaoru, "Both of them."

A half an hour later had a gap-toothed older woman setting an interesting looking pizza in the center of their round table, warning them to be careful because it was still hot.

Katie poked Kaoru's arm, "You try it first." She watched as Dez served herself some and took a bite, a happy smile slowly spreading over her face.

"No, you." He hissed back, trying not to offend anyone within hearing distance. He looked across the table at his brother pleadingly.

"Don't look at me! No way." Hikaru's expression was smug. 'You didn't help me this morning, Brother. Now we're even. You better hurry up if you don't want to disappoint your _toy_.'

"_Fine!_ I'll try it." Katie reached forward and grabbed a piece carefully so not to burn herself.

Dez gave a secret smile to no one in particular. 'See, you get places when you threaten to not feed them unless they try what's been put before them...' She swallowed her current bite. "C'mon guys. All at once. Lift a piece to your mouth and bite. We have to go get groceries still, and I have another errand to do while you do that."

"What er—" Katie desperately tried to delay her sentence.

"Eat!" She focused her eyes on Katie until the younger girl lifted the piece she had taken to her mouth. "I'll show you all later. It's a surprise."

Katie waited until the twins each took a piece and it seemed as if they were silently counting to three to do it at the same time (or trying to see how long they could deal with Dez's death glare before giving in). Teeth sunk into the pizza and bites were taken, flavors sampled.

"Wow." Katie looked at the slice in her hand, a shocked look on her face.

"Not bad." Hikaru eyed his piece before taking another hesitant bite.

"Nice." Kaoru nodded to Dez. "A little salty, but still good."

"See?" Dez grinned, "I _do_ have taste buds, even though I don't like seafood." She opened her mouth to take another bite when she suddenly jumped, "Ah!" She wiped her hands off quickly and pulled her vibrating cell phone out of her purse. "I forgot it was on silent." The waved off the twins laughter as she looked at who had called, "It's Katie!"

Katie blinked at her, "Huh?"

"Oh. Not Katie-Katie. This is Katie-Rockland-Katie." She stood, "Please excuse me." Stepping to the side to not get in the waitresses way she flicked open her phone. "Hi!...Eh?...It is? Well there goes _that_ plan... Oh? Really? Cool... no problem, we're free now... Just have to go to G&W then... It'll be a fun surprise. Will you be there?... Yeah, silly question, I know... I know where that is... Sure, we'll be there... See you later!" She snapped her wrist, her phone folding with a click.

"What was that all about?" Hikaru raised an eyebrow and watched her put her phone away.

"Not telling." The devious smile stayed put as she shook her head, sending her curls bouncing.

Kaoru scooted his chair closer to her, "Not even me?"

The smile molded into a smirk. "Nope, sorry!"

The rest of the group spent the rest of their meal bugging her to tell them between bites, copious amounts of water, and bathroom breaks. She remained triumphant and didn't even breakdown when Katie used her perfected puppy-dog pout. They stop long enough to pay without embarrassing each other and begin once more as they step out into the sunshine.

"Enough." Dez rummaged through her purse and pulled out a couple pieces of paper. "Here!" She handed it to Katie. "Grocery list. Don't buy it if it's more than the price I put next to it. Do your math to see which is the least expensive to buy. You have a calculator on your cells, so no excuse to be lazy." She looked pointedly at Hikaru before handing Katie the envelope with money in it.

"But!" Kaoru tried to protest.

"No buts, all of you go. Katie check the fresh foods before purchasing, you can't be too sure in that farmers market." She pointed to the old theater across the street from where they stood. "We'll meet in front of the Strand in a half hour." She checked her watch. "It's two in the afternoon now. See you soon!" She smiled and waved, before trotting across the street, narrowly dodging getting hit by a tourist on a bicycle.

"We should spy on her!" Hikaru suggested.

"Yeah, we should." His twin seconded.

"We can't." Katie sighed, looking the list over.

"Why not?" The boys chorused. They leaned over and rested their forearms on her shoulders to look at the pieces of paper in her hands. One list was labeled "Boys" and the other "Katie".

"These lists are too long to be done in a half hour if we don't split up like she put us. I bet she knew that too." Katie groaned. "Let's get a move on."

"Damn her." Hikaru grumbled, glaring at the general direction in which the short brunette had disappeared.

--

Dez grinned as she put the shopping bags in the rear of her jeep. 'Katie's going to hate me for making her wear a dress, but come on. There are only so many dances you can go to during high school.' She checked her watch and winced, 'Their time is almost up, they'll be heading here soon.' She skipped toward the theater and bought a few tickets to a comedy. She sat down on a bench in the shade and watched the people as they passed, guessing which ones were tourists, while waiting.

A few minutes later she spotted two tall redheads and a bouncing Katie lugging the groceries with them. The looks people were giving them made the girl giggle. She walked toward them, smiling, and took a few bags from each of them and started toward the jeep effortlessly. She just barely caught the look of shock from the twins as she stepped out onto the cross walk.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow at them as a car stopped suddenly before her, since she had the right-of-way.

"Are you hiding those muscles somewhere?" Kaoru half-joked, eying the bags she carried.

"I usually do this when I go grocery shopping."

Hikaru jogged across the crosswalk to get ahead of her. He turned around sharply and grinned mischievously, "Natural-born shopper." He mock-shivered, "I've heard of them among the commoners." It was apparent that he was teasing her.

"Shut up you." Dez glared half-heartedly. 'I think he might be growing on me...sort of. For Katie's sake he better.' She waited for the others to catch up before setting the groceries down and taking out the large cooler that she had filled with ice that morning. She waddled away from the group and dumped the ice-water mixture over the parking lot. She grabbed the groceries that needed to stay cool and loaded it up. "I'm just good for carrying things. Dad says I'm his little pack horse." She made a face at the odd term of endearment. "I don't have the on-the-feet stamina that they do."

When all the groceries were put in the car, Kaoru looked into the jeep and winced. "How are we all going to fit?"

"Two people are going to have to squish in front with me."

"Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun!" Katie blurted. She blushed when both boys turned their attention to her at once, "H-hey! I have hips, I _am_ a girl, you know. You'd fit better." She looked down. "One could sit on the other's lap if you needed to." She muttered to finish her argument.

'Good excuse.' Dez laughed, "Let's go to the movie."

A good movie, some entertaining credits, and a cramped car ride later found four teens dragging their feet as they put the groceries away. Dez blinked as she stared at what she found in the freezer. "My great aunt came by. She brought us ice cream."

"How do you know?" Katie peered over her shoulder.

Dez took our the carton of vanilla ice cream. "She's the only one I know who would leave a note on the carton itself, than on the freezer."

"She must have thought you would miss it." Katie shrugged as she went to get bowls. "Hey Dez? Can we play Monopoly as we eat?"

"Sounds fun to me. Wanna play with us guys? It's more fun with more people."

"What's Monopoly?" they asked in unison.

"What?" Katie squeaked, nearly dropping the plastic bowls that she was bringing to the dining room table. "You don't know?!"

"A monopoly is usually a person or organization that has complete control over a resource." Kaoru intoned.

"Yes, yes." Dez rolled her eyes and playfully knocked her shoulder into Kaoru's arm. "I _am_ almost eighteen, you know."

"Really? You don't act like it." Hikaru slammed.

Dez picked up the Monopoly board and 'accidentally' smacked him in the forehead with it. "Oops," she snarked. "My bad."

Kaoru chuckled at their antics, but turned a blind eye. "When is your birthday?"

"Ooh! Ooh!" Katie waved her hand—the one with the ice cream scoop—in the air, not noticing the pieces she absentmindedly flung about. "I know this one! Pick me, pick me!" She grinned when the older girl nodded to her, "July tenth."

"Two points for Katie." Dez chuckled, "Yup, I'll be legal in twenty days."

"Legal? Legal to do what?" Hikaru asked as Dez started handing out the colored pieces of money.

"Vote. Buy cigarettes, and other tobacco products. Join the army." She listed casually as she dug out the playing pieces.

"And buy porn." Katie added, laughing as the shorter girl's face turned a bright red.

"Katie!" She whined, "I left that part out for a reason, you brat."

"I'm a brat?" Katie changed the subject before the guys could ask what porn was. It most likely wasn't a word that they learned in English class. Her pout melted the girl and eventually they got back on track and began explaining the rules.

"I call dibs on the Scottie dog. I always use that piece." Dez picked it up and lovingly set it on the "GO!" square.

"Right. I'll use the race car so I can run the bitch's ass over." Hikaru picked it up, tossing it lightly into the air and catching it, before setting it next to Dez's piece.

"Not if I give you rabies first!"

Kaoru disregarded the bickering and picked up the Horse and Rider. "Wow, these are actually metal." He put it down next to his brother's. "So what is the goal to this game?"

Dez worded it simply. "Sell, trade and buy your way to the top and make everyone else bankrupt." She expected the devious grin that broke over the redheads faces.

"Fun."

"Let's play!" Katie bounced in her seat until Dez passed a bowl of ice cream to her. She passed it down so everyone had one and they began to play.

Not even two rounds later, Hikaru got three sets of doubles in a row. "Yes! Free Parking, just what I needed!" He reached toward the cash in the middle.

Dez smacked his hand away. "Too bad Hikaru-kun, when you get three doubles in a row you go straight to Jail. You can't take the money."

"You never told me that!" Hikaru protested as Dez moved his car to the Jail.

"It's in the rules," his brother told him.

"When did you read the rules?!" He raged.

"While you thoughtlessly spent all your money." He chuckled along with the girls as the older twin gaped at him like a fish out of water.

"I'll make you go bankrupt for this, Dez-kun."

Dez grinned impishly, "it's a bet! What happens if I win?"

Hikaru took the deal, "Pick your prize."

"Hmm..." She tapped her bottom lip with one finger. "If I win, I want you to bow, and admit to my face that I _am _smarter than you." She smiled 'innocently', "Even though that isn't a challenge."

"Hey!" He protested heatedly.

"And!" She added, "Don't pick any fights with me for a whole twenty-four hours."

"And what do I get?"

Dez smirked, "I won't hit you as long as you don't give me reason to."

"That's not fair!" Hikaru brandished his spoon at her.

She did her best not to laugh in his face. Kaoru and Katie weren't as nice but Hikaru's full attention was trained on her anyway. "Oh? So you already know that you're going to lose?"

"I never said that!" He objected.

"Then you should be fine." Her eyes darkened to an almost black-blue. She picked up the bowls and spoons and took them to the kitchen. She chuckled to herself, 'This is so going to be worth it. It's almost as if they're _my_ toys this summer.'

It was only twenty minutes later when Hikaru erupted with yet another protest. Katie and Dez looked at each other, surprised at how close their seats had become.

"You're deliberately helping her!"

"I am?" Dez blinked, then realized that she was leaning over Katie's shoulder. "Your point being? You can form alliances in this game."

"But then you have a chance of winning!"

Dez snorted, "Puh-lease. As if I could be beating you more than I am now." She paused and looked over his many mortgaged properties and smirked, "Oh, wait. I could. You're not bankrupt...yet."

"That's it!" He slammed his hands on the table and stood in the same motion.

"Giving up?" The brunette did her best to not look too triumphant.

"Hika—" Katie tried to calm him.

"Let's up the ante!"

"What?!" Katie and Dez gawked at him, Kaoru only reciprocating in a more dignified way.

"How so?" Dez quirked an eyebrow, interested in what he had to say. It was like a dead man's wish: 'Don't argue, it doesn't work.'

"If Katie-kun and you win then to add to your pot I'll hold Katie-kun's hand for a whole day, within reason, and Kaoru—"

Katie blushed furiously. She could feel the heat coming off of her face, 'I don't know about this...'

"Will buy her any art medium she wants and will pose for you Dez-kun..." He paused for dramatic effect, "Shirtless."

"He will?" Dez was so fixated on the older twin that she didn't even notice the blush that spread over her face.

"I will?!" Kaoru glanced away from his brother to the blushing girl across the table, his own face flaming.

Dez cleared her throat. "So...what will Katie and I owe you then?" She almost regretted asking, but she was curious as to what Kaoru would demand of her—and Hikaru of Katie.

"I want a kiss on the cheek from Katie." Hikaru met the already beet red girl's gaze, making her flush more (for it was indeed possible). 'So I can see her get all flustered again and blush.'

'Oh god.' Katie could almost hear the ulterior motives under Dez's and Hikaru's words. 'Why me?'

"And Kaoru?" Dez looked at him, surprised to find his cheeks slightly pink.

"Uh...I wan—would like you to cook a completely Japanese meal." Kaoru paused, 'I really can't think of anything to make them do. It's so...awkward.' He chewed on the inside of his cheek absently, "And I want Katie to let me see everything in the sketchbook she won't let Hikaru and me touch."

"Deal!" Dez and Hikaru blurted before anyone else could protest and shook hands (from what it looked like, they were trying to break each others hands, but that was up for speculation).

"What?!" Katie squawked. That sketchbook was filled with her summer so far, and most of it was of the twins and the girls in little scenarios that had yet to happen...if ever.

"Don't worry Katie. The guys don't even have a chance." Dez grinned confidently.

"Oh really?" Kaoru smirked at Dez, his eyes suddenly roaming over her, "We'll see about that."

Dez did her best to not come off as flustered as they continued game play. She nudged Katie a few times and soon they were sitting pretty as the boys prayed for high rolls around the "Death Corner" as the two sides of the playing board was named.

When the last property was finally sold (at a high amount, but Dez wanted to toy with the boys a bit longer) and the last few dollars were given up, albeit begrudgingly, the girls claimed victory.

Katie jumped up from her seat, dragging Dez with her. "Hooray for chalk pastels!"

Dez jumped on her from behind, giggling when Katie held her in the air, "And hooray for shirtless glory!" She squealed as Katie set her down, and then realized what she had said aloud and blushed furiously.

Katie laughed, leaning on the red girl beside her. She wasn't surprised when the guys joined in only a few seconds later.

**END NOTE: **_Wow, this chapter is about as long as the first (roughly 20 pages). It's been a good 58 pages with you all! I hope that you'll review (hint hint) because it makes writing this story an even bigger pleasure. We eagerly wish to hear from you all, and reply to every one (no matter what). I'll see you on 19__th__ (-crosses fingers in hopes to make it then-) or maybe a little earlier if we're all lucky. (Let's not jinx me now, eh?)_

1Kind of like a muffled snort, or a half-developed laugh.


	5. Sewing Dresses and Making Messes

**WORD COUNT:** _8,050_

**WHAT HAPPENED LAST CHAPTER: **_Dez and Katie had aimed to accompany the boys out into Rockland for a day on the town, showing them some of the perks of a small place. But before they went anywhere, Hikaru insists that they wear something else. Thus, an impromptu shopping trip was born. At the end of their day they play Monopoly...and Dez—being Dez—goads Hikaru into a bet, and the twins find themselves in the loser's corner. What will the girls put them through next?_

**NOTE:**_ Ah, chapter five. There is a love/hate relationship here. This is a building-up chapter...and therefore, it's been dull to type. However, all these lovely reviews that I've been getting have kept me going (and Kreative and Gatamigo won't leave me alone. Haha) and I'm grateful, because I got through this in such a short time! Maybe I might move my updates to weekly. __**Keep reviewing and we'll see!**_

_On another note... Look! I'm posting really early! Don't you all just love me? I'm surprised that I got through it so fast. I hope everyone enjoys (and reviews) this chapter and looks foreward to the next!**  
**_

**IMPORTANT: **_Where the italics are used in the story when someone's talking (and not just single words, but sentences) is Japanese._

**DISCLAIMER: **_We (Kreative and I) are not Hatori Bisco-sensei. If we were, we'd be Japanese (which we're not), we'd own the Host Club (which means we'd profit from the "Shadow Demon King") and we wouldn't be writing this...because it would already be like this xD_

**Beta'd by our loverly beta-boy: Gatamigo!**

Chapter Five: Sewing Dresses and Making Messes

Dez rested her hand on the glass door knob and slowly inhaled, praying that the hinges weren't going to squeak like the usually did (or that the people inside were sound sleepers). Katie had woken her up on accident (waking up on the floor was never pleasant) and they had whispered in the back room for a few minutes before sneaking about to the front bedroom. She slowly turned the handle and winced when it whined at her protestingly. "Shh..." she whispered at it.

"Dezy." Katie poked the girl in the side. Her voice was hushed and when she wasn't poking Dez over and over, she fidgeted. "Why are we doing this?"

Dez opened the door without too much more noise and hissed back, "So you aren't embarrassed." She took the taller girl's hand and dragged her behind her, tiptoeing as quietly as she could. They stepped in the space between the two beds, one looking confidant and the other wearing a bright blush.

Katie grabbed the older girl's sleeve and pulled her toward herself. She leaned close and whispered as softly as she could with Dez still being able to hear. "No, why are we still giving them what they asked for on our bet?"

Dez smirked and shook her head. "That's easy. It's 'cause I'm amazing at Monopoly. They never had a chance. Now, c'mon. I even promised to kiss Kaoru on the cheek so you wouldn't be so scared."

Katie shuffled toward Hikaru and grumbled under her breath, "Likely excuse."

Dez turned toward Katie, thinking that she might have heard her say something. "What was that?"

"Nothing." She knelt next to the bed and braced her hands on the bed frame. She leaned toward the sleeping redhead and waited for Dez's signal. On three, Katie brushed her lips over Hikaru's cheek and moved back, ready for a speedy retreat.

Dez almost screamed when Kaoru turned his head toward her in his sleep. Her lips ended up brushing the corner of his mouth. Such simple contact made her face change to match a tomato.

Katie glanced over and laughed silently, dragging her friend up by the elbow. She led the trembling girl out and they snuck downstairs to start a fire in the cast iron wood stove. Dez busied herself with lighting the fire, and tried to put her experience out of the front of her mind.

Hikaru rolled over in his bed to face his blushing brother and smirked, "You awake?"

"Y-yeah..." Kaoru yanked the blankets up over his face. Why was he blushing? 'She's just a toy! Get it through your head. She'll never be anything else.'

Hikaru chortled and pushed the blankets off. He sat up slowly and leaned over to yank the cloth down away from his brother's face. 'I'm almost enjoying how Kaoru's reacting to his toy. Usually we'd have to talk if he had gotten this attached...but maybe this will be okay.' He pushed his thoughts aside roughly, "Where did she kiss you?"

"Nearly on the lips...like the corner." The younger twin murmured, a hand absently going to the back of his neck. He rubbed it as if it was sore and sighed. Things were eventually going to get a lot crazier.

"Sometimes...I wonder what it would be like if she had been _my_ toy. Then I realize that she might have hit me either way." Hikaru barked a laugh and grinned wolfishly.

Kaoru shook his head at his sibling. "She's mine, Hikaru. You just enjoy making yours change color."

"I will." Hikaru nodded slowly.

Dez flipped a pancake while her gaze was on the girl slicing fruit to go with it. It wasn't that she didn't trust her with knives, but she didn't really think that the brownie-eyed girl was going to get out of it unscathed. She glanced away only for a moment and jumped when she heard a sharp, "Ow!" from Katie's direction.

"Katie!" Dez rushed over, the pancakes be damned.

Katie's fingertip was a dark red, but there was no pain on the girl's features, only badly-contained mirth. A swipe of a tongue—as well as a Katie screaming "EW! GET OFF ME YOU! I'M FINE!"—later, Dez glared at the perfectly fine (but berry stained) fingers.

"Serves you right." The short brunette returned to her pancakes before they burned.

"Same to you! You always act like I'm going to hurt myself if I'm not careful." Katie pouted at the older girl's turned back and shook her head. It was nice that Dez cared about her, but some times it was just too much to feel those piercing sapphire eyes boring into her back.

"Katie," Dez sighed, slightly incensed. "You hurt yourself even if you _are_ being careful."

Katie remained silent for a moment, choosing to ignore the fact. "What are we doing today?"

Dez poured batter onto the now bared skillet, "Fun things." She cackled jokingly, relishing in the shiver she caught out of the corner of her eye. "Actually, I was going to have the guys and you go down to the shore and go fishing. Maybe you could talk to a lobster man into giving you an accidentally caught fish if there are any out on their decks."

"What are we going to do with all the seafood?" Katie finished cutting the fruits and brought them out to the table.

"Well, lunch is going to be a little late, but I was planning on fried calamari, sushi and tempura for a side." Dez smiled and scooped up the plate of pancakes and brought it out to the dining room table, going back to start on the second one.

Katie made a 'yuck' face, but stopped when Dez gave her a look. "I've never tried either." She went after Dez, watching her cook more pancakes.

"And you know my policy. It either goes in your mouth or up your nose." The puckish look on her face made the taller girl cringe. "It'll be a learning experience. Besides," she sighed in minor defeat, "That's as Japanese as I can cook."

"So what are you going to be doing when we go out and catch lunch?" Katie twitched herself back suddenly as Dez moved to flip a pancake, not wanting to get elbowed in the lower abdomen.

"I'll be working on the surprise." Dez grinned playfully.

Kaoru walked up behind her, coming from the dining room door. He rested one hand on her shoulder, the other took her hand and brought it toward his lips, "What kind of surprise?" He kissed the back of it.

Dez controlled her blush perfectly. "The kind of surprising surprise that surprises." She reluctantly pulled away and grabbed plates, cups and silverware.

"You're no fun, Dezy." Katie pouted.

The brunette chuckled. "Au contraire. I am very fun. You just have to wait and see."

"Right." Hikaru came in a few seconds later, following his sarcastic remark that had preceded him, which didn't bite as much as it usually did.

"Hey, we had a deal." Dez glared. "No lip or I hit...hard." She raised a brow at him. Her first reaction was to place her hands on her hips to add to her ireful look, but the objects in her hands prevented her from doing so.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be good." He took the plates and cutlery from her, left the kitchen and began to put them in their spots.

Dez handed the cups to Katie, who followed after him, and shook her head. She shuddered as if cold, "Whoa. Talk about the Twilight Zone. Do, do, do-do, do, do, do-do."

Katie had heard her comment from the dining area. "I know!" She giggled, taking a secret pleasure in the clueless looks that the twins were now giving her.

--

Dez spotted what she was looking for. "Aha!" She grabbed the ladder and moved it over to the south side of the 'junk' filled barn/garage. Katie's head was the only other thing inside that was alive and thankfully not in the way. It had taken a lot of moving around paint cans, mauls, a random car jack, a kayak, a few canoe oars, and almost a lumberyard of 2x4 odds and ends to get to the row boat that was tied into the rafters. The boys were now waiting outside and sitting on the upturned vessel as they waited for the fishing rods.

Dez jogged up the ladder, one of the least safe things to do when it leaned against a wall covered in sharp wood-working tools, and grabbed three poles, checking to make sure that their hooks weren't rusty, or that they had hooks to begin with. She waved Katie in and passed the poles to her before hopping onto the small metal railing on the ladder and sliding down.

"You guys ready?" Dez tugged on each finger of the leather work gloves she had donned when she first started fighting with things in the shed. "I'll take you down to the shore." She shooed Hikaru and Kaoru off of the boat and turned it over, picking up the front and gesturing to Kaoru to carry the back half. She rested it on her shoulder and gripped it by the bench, gesturing lazily for Kaoru to do the same.

"Did you pack sunblock for us?" Katie didn't want to burn, she turned red enough on most days and didn't want to be stuck that way for a week.

"Yeah, I figured the guys would take off their shirts anyway so it would be smart to pack it. It's water-proof too." She headed toward the few acres of blueberry patches and lead them down the once mowed path. They followed the remnants of it down a steep hill and stopped at a thick tree line and were forced to turn a sharp left.

Dez seemed to be enjoying it thoroughly. She paused when the path began to wind toward the right to check out the apples on a tree. Quite a few were already on the ground, "These trees usually bare their fruit in the early to mid summer instead of in the fall." She smirked, "Careful not to step on them and trip. If you do it just right you could fall into the bushes on the other side of the path. Those are all very thorny blackberry bushes." She licked her lips at the thought of blackberries. "Oh and—"

Katie stepped on an apple, skidded and stepped into a hole, flopping into the soft grass on her face. "Ow..."

"—don't forget to watch out for gopher holes."

Hikaru sighed and handed his bag filled with their extra supplies to his brother, who maneuvered the boat in his hands until he could sling the bag across his chest. Hikaru scooped Katie up effortlessly it seemed and sighed, "I won't."

Katie's face became redder than any sunburn Dez had ever seen. "Hi-Hikaru-kun...y-you can p-p-put me down now."

"Nope." Hikaru bounced her in his arms, smirking when she squeaked.

"B-but I'm perfectly fine!"

"Calm down," Kaoru reasoned from behind them. "Don't fidget or else you both will fall." He laughed as Hikaru pretended to drop his charge and she screamed.

Dez took the lead, not caring that she was semi-dragging Kaoru behind her, as she escorted them down a narrow and vine strewn path.

"Hey Dez-kun?" Hikaru asked.

"Mm?" Dez lifted a particularly large vine and tossed it out of the way, not reacting when it squelched as it hit the ground.

"When do we have to fulfill our end of the bet?"

A glint of whimsicality brightened her eyes, "I'll tell you when." She skidded over the seaweed at the end of the path as it opened to a shore covered with pebbles and shells mostly. A few large boulders were to their right, perfect for sunbathing and getting dry after a swim. Some sand could be seen as the tide was going out or just coming in.

Setting the boat down, she ran over to the rock and nimbly jumped up on it. She kicked her shoes off, and skipped down over the rocks with a faint chant of, "Ow, ow, ow, ouch! Ow, ow..." until she reached the mudflats. She tugged at the waist band of her shorts, making sure that they were in the right spot, and not hanging too low as she ran into the frigid water with a squeal. "It's so nice!" She yelled back at them, waving as the water lapped at her thighs, wetting the edge of her short-shorts.

Katie wriggled out of Hikaru's grasp and followed Dez's path more cautiously, picking out the best spots to step. A particularly soft-looking spot on the edge of the mudflats was deceiving and sucked her bare foot in. "Ew! That's so gross! It's in between my toes!" She half hopped down to the water licking the sand. She splashed into the water and squeaked at the cold. "C-cold! Cold!" She danced back out of the foam, her face flushing as the laughter that came from the boys reached her ears.

Dez waded out of the salt water and marched up to the boys. "Alright, let's get her in the water."

"Her?" Hikaru asked. "We're—"

"—throwing Katie-chan in?" Kaoru inquired.

"No, not Katie, the boat. Boat's are usually called 'her' and not 'it'." Dez shook her head. They had so much to learn. She grabbed the boat as Katie came back to them, her teeth chattering. She shrugged at the girl as if to say, 'I can't warm you up.'

"Let me help." Kaoru picked up the other end of the boat, giving Dez a gorgeous smile.

"Th-thanks..." Dez averted her eyes, as if it would help her blush any less.

Hikaru scooped Katie up and placed her on one of the large rocks, sitting next to her. They sat in silence listening to the gulls and waves while watching the others. Hikaru laughed when Dez slipped on the mudflats and landed on her butt, taking the boat and Kaoru with her. They could see the blush of both teens from where they sat.

"Do you like fishing, Hikaru-kun?" Katie did her best not to giggle at Kaoru's torso being propped against Dez's back. His arms were long enough that his hands rested in the sand on either side of the pinkened brunette, making her look smaller than she already was.

"I've never really gone before." He wondered how his brother was going to push himself up off of the girl without crushing her or doing anything that wouldn't make their predicament _more_ awkward.

"Really?" Katie tore her brownie eyes away from the struggling couple to the handsome redhead beside her. "That means I get to teach you!" Her face looked incredibly happy over this, "This is gonna be fun!"

"Sounds like it." Hikaru nudged her shoulder with his, smiling shyly at her. 'She's putty in my hands.'

Katie blushed and smiled back, glancing at him through her lowered eyelashes.

"Come on you two!" Kaoru called to them, waving both arms. He shivered slightly, wishing that he wasn't standing in thigh-high water. Dez stood near him, a hand on the boat.

"Uh, yeah. Let's go." Katie put her hands down to push off the rock and accidentally put her hand on Hikaru's. Her mouth fell open in a slight 'o' and red erupted over her face as he turned his hand around and squeezed hers.

"After you." Katie nearly bolted over to the shore, waiting for Hikaru to catch up.

He kicked off his shoes and stuffed his socks in them and picked his way over the rocks to the mudflats. He avoided the large foot print that Katie had left by getting stuck just barely, only to find his own spot. The look on his face had Dez gripping the side of the boat to keep standing. He hurried over to the water, half relieved that it could clean his feet. "Damn, is this cold."

"It's connected to the ocean, dumb ass." Dez chuckled, proving that she didn't really mean the name that she called him. "Okay Katie, get in first." She steadied the edge and told Hikaru to hold Katie's arm for balance as the younger girl scooted down a bit before hopping as best she could, lifting herself out of the water and over the edge of the boat as Dez was the counter balance.

The brunette nearly pulled the boat over when Katie finally was seated, but let go just in time to go under herself. Water rushed in her mouth and ears, cutting off all sound. She kicked up and broke the surface, spitting the briny substance out and at Katie. "Yuck."

Hikaru laughed and waited for his brother to counter balance the side so he could hoist himself in. He sat himself across from Katie and grinned down at Dez. "And here I thought you couldn't be any shorter." He flinched as she reached over the side and smacked him on a wet limb before shaking her soaked hair out at him. "Hey! Hey, I get it!"

"Don't come back until you have at least two fish the length of Katie's arm!" She handed a laminated card to Katie. "If you get stopped by any sort of official, just show them this card and say you're me. Beat the guys up if they speak in English too well. Explain where they came from. They wouldn't need licenses."

"Right, see you in a few hours." She didn't even see the shocked faces of the boys. Apparently they did not think it was going to take that long.

--

Katie unhooked the fish she had caught and grinned as the boys' applauded her. She happily moved to put the fish in the bucket they had brought to keep it in. It jerked itself violently, slipping out of her hands. Hikaru stood to catch it, and much to no one's surprise, _Katie_ was the one to topple into the water.

Hikaru leaned over the edge after the fish had escaped shortly after the girl had fallen into the water. He waited until she surfaced and reached out a hand, "Oops?"

Katie spat a mouthful water at him, a soft glare in her eyes. "Pull me up, _slowly_. We don't want to overturn the whole boat."

Kaoru chuckled at his brother's inept movements. "Smooth Hikaru." He reached out a free hand to grab her hand as well.

Hikaru took Katie's other hand sheepishly. "Sorry."

After they hauled Katie into the boat, she plopped herself at their feet, dripping and shivering. She rubbed her arms as her teeth chattered, "'s okay."

Kaoru half-turned and dug around in one of the bags Dez packed. His hand brushed against a towel and he pulled it out, handing it to Katie before turning away. "Here. We'll turn around so you can remove your shirt and dry off. You maybe be wearing swimming trunks, but—"

"—that shirt won't dry as fast...and it's white." Hikaru had already turned to face the other way when he slid his shirt off and tossed it over his shoulder at Katie. "Wear mine until we get back to the house."

"That might be a while, since we lost our fish." Katie dragged the warm cotton cloth off of her head—where it had landed—and set it on the driest part of the bench while she stripped her wet shirt off. She rubbed the towel vigorously over her skin, trying to dry herself as much as she could before dragging Hikaru's shirt over her head. She smiled and buried her nose in the fabric, taking in the smell of sunshine and something decidedly spicy, like cinnamon and nutmeg mixed together. 'Ooh, it smells like him.' She cleared her throat delicately, "I'm decent."

Kaoru turned around and spotted where he left his pole, "Hey! I caught one!"

An hour later, Katie lugged a foam cooler with the fish in it up the hill, a bag on her back. She paused and turned around, looking back at the twins lugging the boat up behind her. She smiled encouragingly, grateful that she wasn't the one carrying it.

"We're going to smell like fish for weeks!" They groaned at her when they noticed that she was waiting for them and within earshot.

Katie replied cheerfully, "Nope! That comes later. We still have to clean them." She giggled at the depressed looks that flashed over the boys' faces.

"Clean them?" Kaoru asked, doing his best not to complain more. "Didn't we put them in fresh water?" He pulled his shirt out of his back pocket, where he had shoved it when he got too hot from lugging the boat uphill, and dragged it across his sweaty forehead.

"That was rinsing them." Katie bounced, sounding increasingly chipper, "I mean, cut off their heads, pull out their guts and tear out their spines!" She grinned happily and started skipping up the hill, boys in tow.

"Uh..." The siblings twitched simultaneously, "Right."

"I wonder what Dez is up to?" Katie began to skip backwards, not caring that the water in her cooler had splashed out onto her shorts.

'Hopefully not slaughtering helpless animals...' Hikaru thought, knowing his brother was thinking the exact same thing.

--

Dez sighed and turned off the sewing machine. "I'm done, and they aren't even back yet. I wonder if one of the twins screwed them up." She shrugged and began to put her 'project' away out of sight so no one would figure out what she was up to. She looked out the window and still didn't see them coming and smirked, "Time to be evil."

She sprinted through the house and up the stairs, not falling once, and walked boldly into Hikaru and Kaoru's room. She paused for only a second to make sure she was going to the correct twin's side and dug through Hikaru's things sneakily to pulled out his cell phone.

"Aha." She put everything back to where it had been, he wouldn't even know that she had been there. "Perfect, he left is cell." She skipped down the stairs with his phone, paging through his contacts until a certain number caught her eye. "It's similar to theirs. Maybe their mother?" She hooked the phone up to her laptop and opened a program. "No need to be able to read Kanji or whatever when I have my handy-dandy craptop!" She clicked a few buttons on the screen and soon Hikaru's whole address book was translated and on her screen.

She dialed her mother's number on his phone without a second thought. 'I hope my Japanese is up to par...' she thought as the ring rang. "_Hello. This is your son's friend, Desiree... Oh, no. There is no problem. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to help me with a surprise... I need some clothes for your boys, two semi-formal outfits would be great... I can pick it up in Rockland around seven? ...Thank you very much, Mrs. Hitachiin... I will... Goodbye._"

Dez clicked the phone shut just in time to see the group topping the crest of the hill. "Shoot." She shut her laptop down and jogged up the back stairs, punching the number of the twin's mother into her phone as she went. "Can't hurt...in case there are any emergencies."

She just barely got into the kitchen to pull out a few knives and a cutting board when the door swung open. The bodies trudged in, two shirtless and sweating and one looking energetic, and one up them nearly got smacked in the rear by the screen door.

Katie walked over to Dez and handed her the cooler. "Dez! You'll never guess what happened!"

The shorter girl placed the cooler under the window between the counter and the oven. "Let's see. Hikaru did something stupid." She mumbled under her breath, "Surprise, surprise."

"Hey!" Hikaru objected, glaring at her with a heated golden gaze.

Dez continued as if Hikaru hadn't objected. "So Katie fell in and Hikaru gave her his shirt...and Kaoru's just spontaneously combusted?"

Kaoru blushed lightly and pulled his shirt out of his back pocket where it had been hanging, "It's right here. I got hot carrying the boat up."

'You're already hot...' Dez nearly kicked herself for her wandering mind—and wandering eyes. "Okay. Katie, since you are a klutz—"

"I know, I know." Katie sighed. "Go draw or something."

"I was going to say, 'Keep an eye on Hikaru'. I don't trust him in my kitchen with hot oil."

'Agreeing might get me out of something boring...' Hikaru hoped. "I don't trust me either." A Cheshire cat grin lit up his face.

Dez chuckled and shooed them out of the kitchen with a slight wave of her hand. "Want to help me cook, Kaoru-san?"

"Uh, sure." He took the plain white apron Dez offered and blinked as she took his shirt away from him and put it on the back of a chair in the dining room.

--

Katie walked through the dining room and picked a deck of cards as she passed without even pausing. Sliding the deck out of the box was she went, she started to shuffle before grabbing a couch pillow with her elbow and dropping onto the floor to use as a seat.

Hikaru watched her, mildly interested and definitely amused. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, we could either make card castles or play Go Fish. Dez is the one who spends a lot of her free time playing weird card games I've never heard of...or playing multiple variations of poker." She stopped shuffling and looked up at him. "What would you like to do?"

"Show me how to make castles." Hikaru sat down on the couch behind her.

"Well, it's harder than it looks. They slip and fall down a lot." She set two up, forming a little triangle and went to grab a few more cards.

Hikaru slid down from his spot to one directly behind her his arms wrapping around her waist and chin resting on her shoulder. "Really? It doesn't look that bad."

Katie jumped with an undignified squeak, knocking the cards all helter-skelter. "Really." Her head sagged, she had almost gotten to the second tier.

Hikaru's interest was peaked at the challenge. "Let's do one together." He laced his fingers in betweens hers and guided her hands to pick up two new cards. They make a two level castle together before it fell.

Katie could feel her face burning. "We just have to move slowly."

In the kitchen Dez was demonstrating how to cut the fish. "See?" Her knife slid gracefully along the stomach splitting the dead creature open.

Kaoru swallowed, a grimace firmly in place. "Yeah."

"Be very careful, because the knife is very sharp." She watched him cut the stomach of the fish open slowly, his nose wrinkling as innards oozed out of the cut.

"Ugh, this feels so weird." Kaoru dropped the knife and moved his hands from the fish as soon as he was done.

"As weird as cutting the throat and breaking the spine?" She couldn't laugh at him, not like this. It would discourage him from ever trying something like this again.

"No. That was just gross."

She chuckled and cut the fillets from the spine on both sides. "Here, you can do the easy part." She put the fish skin side down and handed him a pair of tweezers. "Run your fingers along the flesh and use these to pull out all the tiny rib bones."

He did as was told, grateful that he wasn't cutting anything anymore. "How do you know all this if you hate fish?" He wasn't completely interested, but it was better to think about something else than what he was doing.

"I've used to cook all the meals at my old place, ever since I was eight." Dez smiled fondly at a memory, "My dad liked fish a lot." She chuckled and amended her comment, "My dad likes just about anything, especially if it's spicy. I don't really like feeling my tongue burn off, but I can cook spicy food well." She started pulling the bones out of her own fillet five times the speed Kaoru was operating at. "I believe that if you really like a dish you should learn how to make it. You eat fish all the time, you should learn how to prepare it."

"Right. Maybe I'll think twice before I make someone prepare it for me." He finished pulling out all the bones and stiffened as Dez suddenly leaned really close and ran her hands in two smooth lines, quickly pulling out the very small pieces that he missed.

"Time for the hard part."

"There's a harder part?" Kaoru wondered what else she was going to put him through.

She picked up a very thin and lethal looking knife. "Cutting the flesh from the skin." She held a piece by the tail and angled the knife parallel to the cutting board and slid the knife under the meat, parting it in a swift movement and not wasting a single scrap. "Tada."

Kaoru blinked, impressed. "Nice."

Dez grinned and bowed slightly. "_Thank you._" The Japanese words rolled off her tongue easily.

"You can speak Japanese?" Kaoru wondered if she had ever caught ear of some of the not-so-nice comments his brother and he had made about people they saw, or if she had heard anything they whispered, hoping the girls wouldn't overhear.

"Enough that I could probably lie there with not too many problems. I used to watch a lot of anime. I just can't _read_ it." She sighed, doubting that she'd ever be able to understand the pretty but confusing language. She looked at the knife in her hand, "Want to try?"

"Sure." Kaoru took the offered handle and looked down at the meat in front of him nervously.

"You'll be fine." She gently brushed her fingers over his forearm reassuringly.

The redhead nodded, trying to think about the dead animal over the cute girl near him to control any sort of blush that might try to form. He braced the edges of the meat with his fingers and started to cut it away with a slight sawing motion. The knife skidded through the meat and sliced into his finger, the last knuckle to tip. "Ouch!"

"Are you okay?" Dez moved the knife and fish away and grabbed his hand to inspect the finger. Without thinking she put the smarting digit into her mouth.

Kaoru blushed, "Uh...y-yeah." The stinging in his finger was forgotten when an innocent tongue moved across it and the mouth retreated.

"The knife is sharp enough that you don't need to use a sawing motion. Let's bandage this up." She withdrew to the pantry. 'Ohmigawd! What did I just do?'

Kaoru leaned against the counter and stared at his bloodied finger. 'Why am I reacting like this? She's just a summer toy! But the way she was so concerned over just a cut...'

Dez came back in. "Come here." She moved to the sink and set the bandage down to open the hydrogen peroxide that she had grabbed.

Kaoru stood behind her and offered his finger, holding it over the sink.

Dez tipped a small amount of the liquid over his finger tip and it erupted into foam and fizzed.

"Ow!" Kaoru jerked his hand back at the stinging that lanced through the tip of his index finger. He hadn't expected it to hurt _that_ much.

"Oi!" Dez grabbed his hand and interlaced their fingers. "Don't be such a baby, Kaoru-san. That means it's cleaning it out before it can get infected."

Kaoru squeezed her hand in his and moved closer, his torso very near hers. He could feel heat coming off her and it felt comforting. He rested his chin on the top of her head lightly and watched her clean his fingertip. "I trust you."

Dez blushed, half-thankful that he was behind her and couldn't see. "You better," she joked softly. "With Katie the Klutz I've gotten really good at first aid." She applied the peroxide a few more times before turning around in his arms. She blushed again and glanced down, not meeting his eyes while she gently dabbed it dry, putting on some pain relieving ointment and taping an orange bandage to his finger. She met the golden gaze and smiled softly, reaching up to gently tug a lock of his hair. "It matches your hair."

"So it does."

The microwave decided to finish and dinged, interrupting their 'moment'. Dez jumped a little and sashayed away from Kaoru. She grabbed a hand towel off of the rack by the wood stove and opened the microwave, taking out the rice cooker.

"What's for lunch?" Maybe he could get an answer out of her since the others couldn't.

Dez smirked at him and put the rice into the fridge. "Food."

"What kind of food?" He asked hopefully.

"The edible kind." Dez could see him sag in defeat.

--

Katie leaned back. Their castle had fallen numerous times, but this time it was still standing. There were five different levels and a few "turrets". She smiled proudly at their frail creation. "You're a good chair." She sighed contentedly.

"I'm not a chair." Hikaru muttered, indignant.

"Then d-don't sit behind me like that."

"Fine..." He rested his chin on her shoulder, "I'm your chair." He jerked when he heard a shout from the kitchen. "Kaoru?"

"Oh jeez," Katie chuckled. "Kaoru's worse than me!" She was about to calm the older twin when he took off toward the kitchen and instead fell over into more cushions.

"Kaoru!" He ran into the kitchen only to see Kaoru and Dez disappear into the shower room. He heard the water turn on and his twin hiss in pain. In seconds he was in the doorway. "What happened?"

"He got splashed with the oil." Dez ran her hand under the water, 'Good, it isn't too cold. That would just do him harm.' She pushed him under the cool water, her fingers gently running over his chest and abdomen, checking to see if there was any blistering. The farther up his chest the less splatters there were, but right toward the center of his stomach was a rather large mark. The angry redskin made her worry. 'If it blisters, I'll have to take him to a hospital.'

"Ow! Careful." Kaoru bit his bottom lip. It was hard to control his reactions. Those small hands were practically running over all of his chest, and both of them standing in a rather small shower together didn't help. He wondered briefly if she minded getting soaked. "It's cold..."

"It needs to be a little cold. A burn is cooking flesh. _Your_ flesh to be exact."

"What can I do to help?" Hikaru asked.

"Get him some dry clothes. Shirt and pants should be fine. A natural fabric. Cotton or silk. Loose." She didn't bother forming full sentences. She was concentrating on the pink skin in front of her. She shivered slightly from the temperature of the water. She heard Hikaru pad away and rested her head on Kaoru's upper arm. "I'm sorry. I should have put the calamari in, or at least warned you, or showed how to put it in."

Kaoru lifted his hand carefully and rested it on the damp locks of the girl so worried about him. "It's alright. I'd be worse off if you weren't here to help me." Not that he would be in this position if it hadn't been for her. No. He'd be at the summer home. Bored. Out of his mind.

Hikaru burst back in with clothes over one arm. "Now what?"

Dez stepped away and turned off the water. "Help him dry off. Dab gently. Don't let him bend over, alright? At all." She looked at Kaoru sternly. She left as Hikaru reached for the towel and Kaoru began to unbutton his shorts.

"Thanks." The twin told her as she began to step out the door.

Dez turned around, her eyes closed for Kaoru's modesty (no matter how badly she wanted to peek), and bowed. "_You are very welcome_."

Hikaru gaped at her as she left. It took a few minutes to them to change Kaoru's clothes because of how painful it was for him to move. When they left the bathroom Katie was in the kitchen watching the food and Dez was nowhere in sight.

"Where did Dez-kun go?" Kaoru wondered aloud.

"Dunno." Katie replied, poking a frying piece of squid. "She just ran out with her keys and told me to watch the food and keep you from putting ice on the burns. She told me it just would aggravate it."

"C'mon Kaoru." Hikaru took his brother's arm gingerly. "Let's go to the couch where you can lay down until the spitfire gets back."

No more than five minutes passed before the front door slammed open, shaking on its hinges, and a panting Dez shoved a bag into Katie's hands. "It's for...his burns." She gasped out.

"Good, you cook when you can breathe. I'm tired of trying to dodge bubbles of hot oil." Katie opened the bag, "I remember this stuff! I'll take care of Kaoru-kun."

Dez nodded, took a few deep breaths and moved gracefully toward the counter, starting to cook once more. She did her best to meditate as she cooked, clearing everything out of her head except the food and how it should be prepared.

Katie left the shorter girl in the kitchen and hurried to the living room. "Dez is back. She ran out to go get something for your burns." She grabbed a pair of scissors that she had left on the coffee table earlier that day and opened the package, revealing a small blue gel square with a patch of white plastic to keep it from sticking to things. She cut it into odd shapes that were correct for placing where Kaoru got burned. "After twenty minutes of this you can put a bandage over it to hold them there."

Kaoru looked up from where he had been trying to blow over Hikaru's beginnings of a card castle. "It looks weird." His only protest was vocally though. 'Huh, since when did I trust these girls so much?' He sucked in a deep breath at how cold the gel patches were, but once the shock of temperature was over he couldn't feel the pulse that his injury had been dancing to. "Wow."

Katie sat down next to Hikaru and sighed, leaning against him absentmindedly. Something was up.

"What's wrong?" Hikaru poked her in the nose with the corner of a card.

"She's blaming herself."

"Did she tell you that?" Kaoru couldn't hide the worry in his voice. He had been careless, it was no one's fault but his own. He didn't want Dez to blame herself for it.

"No, but she's really hyper and running around the kitchen like a chicken with its head lopped off." She laughed at the horrified looks that the boys gave her. "It's just an expression." She turned toward Kaoru and checked his stomach. "Does it feel better?"

"A little." Kaoru stared down at the blue patches stuck to his stomach.

Katie poked one gently, "It's squishy."

Hikaru turned toward his brother, "Really?" He reached out and prodded one somewhat ungracefully. "Ew, they are gooey."

"Ow! Hello, injured person here. Stop poking my battle wounds." Kaoru snapped teasingly at his brother.

"Battle wounds?" Hikaru chortled. "_Poor brother, his toy is more than he can handle._" He laughed louder as Kaoru's face reddened. He was glad that Katie didn't understand Japanese like Dez did. It made talking about them easier since he never had to worry about offending them.

Katie's stomach growled loudly, cutting through Hikaru's laughter. A few seconds passed and soon all three of them were laughing. "I wonder how much longer we'll have to wait."

Dez walked in with a large tray. On it were three covered serving dishes, a set of plates and a few pairs of chopsticks. She kicked the table, devastating Hikaru's castle. "Move the cards, eh?"

Hikaru glared, grumbled, and started picking up the shattered remains of his fortress. He watched Dez set down the tray and stared as she promptly left. A smaller tray was in her hands this time, a teapot and a set of matching cups. She passed out the cups, rough cast cream with a green glazing. The negative space that decorated it was of bamboo, as was the handle.

She knelt by Kaoru after Katie ad Hikaru moved to the other side of the table, taking their already warmed pillows with them, and helped him sit up a little more. She began pouring tea—which strongly smelled of citrus and spice—and passed the cup out. "Anyone else besides Katie hungry?"

"Yes." Kaoru was staring at the covered dishes, wondering what was hiding under the silver lids.

Dez didn't wait any longer before uncapping the sushi, calamari and tempura. She smiled when she heard Hikaru mutter that it looked edible. "Let's dig in." Dez served Katie's plate first, then Hikaru, and lastly Kaoru's. She nearly forgot to give herself any until Katie gave her a look.

"Dez..." Katie raised an eyebrow and picked up a piece of sushi with the chops sticks. "We're trying this together." She held it out to her challengingly. She waited patiently, even though she was stretched out over the table.

"Fine, fine. Jeez." She stole one off of Hikaru's plate and held it out to Katie. In unison they took their bite. Dez did her best not to wrinkle her nose. "Nope, I still don't like it. How about you Katie?"

"I think it's good Dez."

"At least it's not poisoned." Hikaru smirked. He slowly ate a piece, "Not too bad."

"I should say so, never had sushi before, but I think this is a good first try." Dez grinned and took the last plate and put some calamari and tempura on her plate.

"You've never had sushi before—" Kaoru asked from behind her.

"—but you know how to make it expertly?" Hikaru gawked at her, unable to believe his ears.

"Yep." Dez smiled and turned to Kaoru, "How is it?"

"Well, it's a little hard to eat laying down." He smiled a tad sheepishly.

Katie smiled oh-so-'innocently' and thought aloud, "You could always feed him yourself."

Hikaru grinned at the two reddening faces across from him, "Yeah...since he _s_ injured because of you."

Kaoru and Katie glared at Hikaru as Dez visibly wilted at his comment. She obviously still believed that him getting hurt was her fault.

"It's okay, you don't have to." Kaoru added, his face still a little pink.

"No, I should." Dez hadn't even noticed how red her face was. "I-if you don't mind, that is."

Katie bounced in her seat at Kaoru's silence. "He doesn't!"

Dez took his plate from him slowly and stood to sit on the very edge of a couch cushion. She didn't expect Kaoru to move over so she could sit on it a little more comfortably. She blushed prettily and chewed on her bottom lip. Resting the plate on her lap, she picked up a piece of the sushi and cupped her hand under it so she wouldn't drop anything on him. "H-here..."

"So, what's the surprise?" Hikaru's face was filled with a devious delight.

Katie took her chance to stuff a piece of calamari into his mouth, "you don't have to tell us Dezy." She shot a look at Hikaru. 'Poking at her when she's sad, jeez Hikaru-kun. Not your best move.'

"It's fine." Dez waved Katie off. "I guess I'll tell you since we can't go." She sighed and almost divulged it to them when Kaoru interrupted.

"Why not?"

Dez blinked, "'Cause you're hurt."

Kaoru sighed and patted her hand, smiling gently. "What time does it start?"

"Around half-past seven, but I have a sort-of date with someone at seven."

"Date?" Kaoru and Katie asked together, staring at her.

Hikaru snorted, "That's a surprise."

Dez glared at the redhead across from her, "Eat before I jam the chopsticks up your nose...!" She offered Kaoru another bite and stuck her tongue out at Hikaru at the same time, making Katie giggle.

"This really is good for someone who's never eaten sushi." Kaoru complimented, hoping to distract her from his twin. He didn't want to have to get between them. He knew that Katie wouldn't and he didn't want to get hurt more than he already had that day by getting caught in the crossfire.

"Yeah?" Dez beamed happily.

Kaoru smiled, glad that she was happy once more. "Yeah."

Dez rocked back and forth a bit, seeming a lot younger than she really was. "I bet it's because during my older brother's wedding I watched the chefs make the sushi instead of watching the service. It was boring."

"Dez!" Katie looked near mortification. "That's not nice!"

"I was only ten!" Dez returned Katie's look and both girls chuckled to themselves.

"Ah. Anyway! Do we still get the surprise?" Katie cocked her head to the side inquisitively.

"It's up to Kaoru."

"I'll be fine. You guys can leave me behind."

'If he isn't there and his mom sees...I'll get shot.' Dez swallowed, "No! You're coming or I'm not driving."

"Okay!" Hikaru griped. "We get the picture! No Kaoru, no go. Calm the hell down, woman!"

Dez took a slow, deep breath. "I'm going to take a nap Katie, can you wake me up at six?"

"Uh, yeah." Katie looked up at her friend, a worry look in her brownie eyes.

Dez ran her fingers through Katie's soft hair and leaned over to kiss her on the forehead. "Night, dear."

Katie watched Dez leave and then looked at both of the boys in turn. She glanced down at her half-eaten meal and sighed. 'I dunno if I really am all that hungry anymore, Dez's been pretty up and down lately. I should talk to her tonight, after the surprise.' She stood, "I-I'm going to do the dishes." She left the boys to eat or do whatever. Right now she wanted to listen to her happy music and think of a way to help Dez.

**END NOTE: **_I'm done! Holy cow, Kreative and Gatamigo are really loving me __now. I'm not sure if my beta has anything to say about the way I punched this out...I know he's enthusiastic to get this once I get somewhere with wireless ^_^ _

_**GATAMIGO: **_**Will Dez's secret surprise stay ruined now that Kaoru is injured? Will Katie find a way to cheer up her old-time friend? Will Hikaru ever succeed making a house of cards? Find out on the next Dragon Ball ****ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*brick'd***


	6. Playing Bands and Holding Hands

**WORD COUNT: **_8,768_

**WHAT HAPPENED LAST CHAPTER:**_Feeling guilty about having a greater advantage over the boys during Monopoly, Dez convinces Katie that they should give the boys what they asked for. After leaving the boys bedroom that morning, faces red from a simple kiss on the cheek, the girls start breakfast and pretend that they hadn't snuck into the boys' room while they were 'asleep'. Later that day, Dez shows the group the shore and sends everyone off fishing for lunch. She heads back to the house to set her surprise into action, but what kind of surprise is it? Will everyone find out in this installment? Read, and find out!_

**NOTE: **_Already we're at chapter six?! This has to be one of my favorite chapters...and after that seemingly too long chapter five (that has to be one of the most troublesome ones I've written in a while) this is a pleasure to do. So, my darling minions—er, fans—Review and you'll get more soon.(Kreative sends best of wishes out to the fans! :D )_

_On a side note, about halfway to the end of the chapter, Dez and Hikaru stop using the honorifics with each other. There is no "closeness" between them, I must assure you. The reason why the Japanese use honorifics is usually for respect and well, Dez and Hikaru don't really respect each other. They are constantly at war. The drop is to signify that, and then they just forget to add them again when they aren't fighting. When they really want to be heinous to each other I'm sure that "cheap bitch", "rich bastard", "spitfire" and "Hika-chan" can work (Dez puts so much disdain and hatred into Hika-chan that I bet Hikaru will cringe if Honey-senpai ever calls him that again)._

**DISCLAIMER: **_We (Kreative and I) do not own Kaoru and Hikaru, but what fun we would have if we did...of course, we'd share...if someone asked nicely._

_**Beta'd by Gatamigo**_

Chapter Six: Playing Bands and Holding Hands

Katie's hands gripped the sheets at the edge of the big bed she shared with Dez to keep herself from falling over as she crouched next to it. With a twin on either side, all staring intently at one sleeping form, it made a pretty hilarious picture. She did her best to keep quiet, unsure of how asleep the short girl was.

"I wonder..." Katie rolled her head to the side, her chin still on the mattress, "if I should wake her up?" She smiled at Dez, even though she knew that the girl across from her was asleep and had no clue as to what she was up to.

"Will she even stay asleep if we keep talking?" Kaoru was relieved that his stomach no longer hurt, although the tape holding the gauze covered gel pads tickled occasionally.

"She looks like she could sleep through a train wreck!" Hikaru grumbled, rolling his eyes effectively. It would be funny if she was that much of a sound sleep, he had to admit.

"Not quite," Katie giggled. She lifted her head from the mattress and tapped her chin thoughtfully, "I've heard from her dad that she slept through screaming children and road construction."

Hikaru's eyes watered with contained tears of laughter. "She'd be a good match for a guy who snores."

"I don't snore!" Kaoru shot at him, unaware of his slip-up until Hikaru turned his molten gold eyes on him.

"I never said it was you, either."

Katie—who had been ignoring the boys completely without effort—poked Dez on the nose gently, "Dezy..." she whispered, "I've got a boy for you. Come on... come get it, girl."

Dez's nose twitched and her rubbed it on the back of her hand in sleep, "Ehmm..." she murmured and shifted.

"Pfft." Hikaru was going into hysterics on the inside, "you've got a winner, little brother." He reached around Katie to jab his brother in the side.

Kaoru blushed, "Shut up, Hikaru."

Katie trailed her fingertips over Dez's exposed arm, hoping to tickle her into awake-ness. "Dezy...wake up!" She sing-songed, tickling her arm a little more seriously.

"_Go away_." Dez grumbled in her sleep. "_I don't want to get up yet._"

'The hell?' The observers chorused in their heads, 'She sleep-talks in Japanese?!'

Dez opened her eyes groggily, the usually bright sapphire blue clouded with sleep. When they finally focused on the three face very near to her she opened her mouth and said the first thing that came to mind. "AHH!"

Katie jumped and screamed back, "AHH!"

"Merde!" Dez swore in French. "Qu'est-ce que pensiez-vous, en partant furtivement en haut sur moi comme ça? Baiser!"

'Now French?' Katie shook her head and sighed, "N-no need to swear, Dezy."

Hikaru looked at Kate, and then to the rumpled and nearly pouting girl struggling to get untangled from the bed sheets, 'And I thought Katie was weird.'

"B-but you _told_ me to wake you up!" Katie protested.

"And you didn't need _boys_ to help you!" No one in the room could tell if she was referring to their gender or their age.

"B-b-but...De-e-ez-zy-y-y!" She wielded her biggest-sad-puppy eyes and pouting lower lip for good measure, "are you mad at me?" Her voice was soft and child-like.

Dez's eyes widened comically. "No! Katie!" She whined as she launched herself at the taller girl, suddenly free from her sheets, and bowled everyone over in the process. She glomped Katie thoroughly as she apologized profusely. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please, forgive me?!"

Katie's mind didn't register how squished she was. "Okay." Her answer was frighteningly simple for the act she had put on. 'Ha ha, Dezy. You're not the only one with leverage.' She hugged her back, "You're forgiven."

"Yay!" Dez grinned giddily, before realizing that she and her friend were currently squishing the boys underneath them. "Oops!" Dez hauled Katie to her feet and shoved her at the bed, "Are you okay?" She gripped Kaoru's wrists and hauled him to his feet before grabbing Hikaru by his hair and yanking him upright.

"Ow ow ow...OW!" Hikaru pushed Dez away and massaged his aching scalp with his fingertips.

"Poor baby..." Dez simpered unsympathetically.

"What the hell was that for, you bitch!" He stepped toward her, ignoring his sibling's hand that shot out in front of him to keep him from getting closer.

"_You're_ going to make us late!" Dez spat back.

Hikaru gaped, deadpanned. "M-make us late? Make us _late_. You were the one who was sleeping!"

Dez snarfed. "But I'm the driver. Would you like me to drive off the road and kill you all because I fell asleep at the wheel?" Her arms were crossed over her chest defensively.

"Then let me drive." Hikaru answered simply.

Dez laughed. "I may be crazy, Hikaru-kun, but I'd have to be shoved into a straight jacket and chucked into a padded room at the loony bin before I willingly let you drive my jeep." She grabbed her sandals and rolled over the bed toward the narrow stairs, expecting everyone else to follow her.

"What about me?" Kaoru was the first to go after her, and braced himself on the rail and wall, not trusting the small steps under his socks.

Dez bit her lip, "U-uh, you don't know where we're going."

"And me?" Katie called after Dez as the older girl walked into the kitchen.

Dez waited until everyone was in the same room before replying. "Sorry, Katie. You don' even apply. You don't have your permit yet."

"Aww...That hurts, Dezy." Katie pouted and counted down the seconds in her head as to how long Dez would hold out before glomping her again.

"I said sorry!" Dez grabbed her keys off of the top of the microwave and took Katie's hand. "Let's go!" Halfway to the jeep Dez froze in mid-step. "On second thought, I need to grab something...and my license. Can't drive without that again."

"And your glasses." Katie added a little sternly.

"Yes, and my glasses." Dez tossed her keys to Kaoru and grabbed Hikaru's hand. She put Katie's and his together, "Your twenty-four hoursof hand-holding starts now." She giggled to herself about the blossoming blush that covered both teens' faces and skipped back to the house after shooting Kaoru a wink and wicked grin.

"Can we leave without her?" Hikaru asked no one in general.

"We don't know where we're going." His twin replied. He pushed the front seat forward and waited for the other two to climb in the back.

"You mean we don't know where her _date_ is." Hikaru plunked down after Katie had time enough to buckle...and stare at a butterfly that rested on the headrest before her. "Poor Kaoru. Tsk, tsk, his girl's got someone."

Kaoru nearly slammed the chair back, "She's not my girl!" He dropped into his seat, happy to hide his hot face from his smirking twin.

"Who belongs to who now?" Katie asked innocently once the butterfly was gone and her attention had returned to the current conversation. Her eyes landed on Dez, who had almost reached the jeep with two hangers with clothes hanging on them, hidden under black trash bags.

Dez put the bags in the back and raised an eyebrow at the conversation, "Who's into S&M?"Dez was sure that no one was really talking about slave-master relationships on any level of bondage. She couldn't see any of them in front of her being interested in _that_.

At the same time, both boys nearly yelled their answers. "Kaoru!" Came out of Hikaru's mouth, while Kaoru protested, "No one!"

Dez and Katie shared a look before shrugging at each other. Dez pinched her hair clip off of the hem of her button up and twisted her hair up to get it off of the back of her neck. A quick stretch later and she hopped into the driver's seat. "I see the lovebirds got the back seat."

"We're _not_ lovebirds!" Hikaru dissented, his mind not realizing that his hand was squeezing Katie's at that very moment.

Dez chuckled as she drove in a tight circle to face the road, "Yet." She enjoyed the silence her comment brought as Hikaru fumed in the back seat. She wondered briefly, as she glanced at the couple in the rear-view mirror, if he would have crossed his arms over his chest if Katie hadn't been holding his hand. The quiet was nice for a while, but since her radio no longer worked the near-noiseless drive was about to drive her nuts. "Jeez," she commented to Kaoru, sparing him a quick glance and soft smile, "Did Hikaru-kun's never-shut-up batteries die? Katie forgot to plug him in last night, didn't she?"

Kaoru laughed, smiling back at her. 'She's got a pretty good wit when it comes to teasing the two in the back.'

"Hey!" Hikaru snapped.

"Well, well. It looks as if I can recharge him with just the sound of my voice."

"At least we don't have to buy any batteries." Kaoru added, not risking a look at his brother. He knew that if he gave Hikaru an opening, he'd go for it.

"Kaoru!" Hikaru sounded on the way to scandalized.

"It's like Katie!" Dez joked, "Her blush is solar powered."

"What?!" Katie kicked Dez's seat, a blush warming her cheeks already. "Dez! That's not very nice!"

"It's okay, Strawberry. You're sweet enough for the both of us. Right, Hikaru-kun?" Dez winked at him by means of the mirror. She slowed down as her turn came and soon enough she was parking at the back of a store. 'That way the boys won't know that I'm meeting an errand-boy of their mother's. I don't want them to figure this out until much later.' She hopped out, taking the keys with her. "I'll be right back, don't antagonize each other too much in my absence."

"Maybe," Kaoru started as Dez disappeared into the back of the building, "I should move into the back because of her...date." He sounded a little off—not quite saddened, since she was _only_ a toy—but no one could be sure what was wrong with it.

"No." Hikaru's voice was flat. "I don't need you to tease me up close."

Katie blinked at the twins, startled out of her silence. "He was teasing you? He can do that?"

Hikaru looked at her incredulously. "Yeah."

Katie bounced, turning toward the twins. "That's possible?"

'Wow,' the boys traded a look, sharing their thoughts easily. 'She's dense.' They heard footsteps coming toward them and moved to see Dez carrying two more bag covered hangers. She held her hand up high to keep them from trailing on the ground and smiled at them cheerfully.

"We're almost ready to go." She put the clothes with the others and climbed in the front, checking the time once she started the jeep. "And we'll get there just in time, too."

"W-what about your date?" Kaoru asked, not seeing anyone following her.

Dez paused for a moment before backing out onto the side street. "Date? But you're—... oh! That! That was an appointment I had. I don't know much about other countries or states, but here in Maine those two words are practically interchangeable. That's all I meant."

"Oh." Kaoru sunk in his seat, thoroughly relieved. "Then what was your appointment for?"

Dez put a finger to her lips and winked, "That's a secret." It only took her ten minutes to stop outside a building. The lights were dimmed and a man stood outside, looking as if he was a guard. Dez hopped out, grabbed the bags, and walked up to him. As she talked the others got out of the jeep.

Kaoru chuckled when he just happened to have front row seats to Katie and Hikaru trying to go separate ways to get out of the vehicle while still holding hands. He turned his gold eyes to the small girl talking to the man at the door and chuckled a little more. She barely came up to his ribcage. He walked over to her and put his arm around her shoulders and smiled.

Dez smiled softly at him, her eyes startlingly warm. She returned her attention to the man, "Thank you, Daniel. Tell Katie I said hi." She nodded to him as he opened the door for her and the teens that trailed after her. A sign before them scrawled, 'Below the Bar' in black, a bold red arrow underlining it and pointing toward the stairs to their left.

Kaoru's hand slid down her arm and he took the bags from her. "You missed something great." He told her about Katie and Hikaru's slight mishap while trying to get out of the jeep. His hand had absently found itself around hers, his fingers lacing with the smaller ones.

Dez chuckled and winked at him, "Like I said..."

Kaoru smiled at her knowingly, "Lovebirds." He squeezed her hand.

"We are not!" The young couple protested, before erupting into a deep blush at how they replied in unison. They looked away from each other shyly, only causing the teens before them to laugh more.

Dez stopped at a desk and pulled out her wallet, showing her ID to the lady at the table. She took it and flipped a few pages before checking their names off. "Have fun."

Dez led them past a set of thick double doors, a deep bass pounding beyond it. 'I wonder if they've figured anything out yet.' She stopped in front of the bathrooms.

"Uh, Dez?" Katie asked hesitantly. "There are bathrooms back at the cottage. Surely, this isn't why we're here?"

'That hut is a cottage?' the boys grimaced at each other.

"Katie," Dez sighed, putting a hand to her forehead, "that's not what we're here for. We all need to change clothes." She let go of Kaoru's hand, took the bags back from him and sorted them, boys and girls. "I'm allowing Hikaru and you to separate for a bit to get dressed." She handed the guys' to Kaoru.

"Uh..." Katie and Hikaru looked down at their hands in unison. They glanced up and met each other's gaze nervously. Blushing once more, they slowly let go of the other's hand.

"Perfect." Dez grinned and handed a hanger to each of them before linking her arm through Katie's. "See you in a sec." She dragged the taller girl into the bathroom. She shoved her in a stall and gave Katie hers. "Hurry please. I really want to see you in the dress I made."

Katie pulled the bag up, revealing a dark silk skirt, and kept going. Once the bag was off she gawked at the dress. The style of the bodice was that of a Chinese qipao. It had the high collar and monkey fist buttons that held together the two lips of fabric as it split from her throat obliquely to under her left arm. Its sapphire material was soft, and embroidered on the right side was a cherry tree, full with soft-looking whitish pink blossoms, a few petals falling down across the bodice.

The skirt, once on her, brushed the tops of her knees. She spun slightly before tugging on the gathered part of the skirt on her right hip. Once it had settled she straightened the bodice, the right side dipping down lower to give the tree more trunk space. She traced the needle work with awe. "You _made _this?"

"Yup, mine too. The embroidery on yours was mostly there, I just changed the shape of all the petals and added some pink to them." She tugged on her underskirt. "I had to make the buttons and collar though."

Katie mouthed the word 'wow'. "Did you make the boys' clothes too?"

"How much time do you think I had while you were out fishing?" Dez laughed, tying her dress' straps behind her neck. "I didn't have their sizes so I called their mom and asked if she could help out a bit."

"You _what_?!" Katie squeaked as she rested her hands on the latch. She could hear Dez's voice still in the stall next to her, so she knew that she would be safe if she stepped out...but she really didn't want to.

"I called their mom. I stole Hika-chan's phone and called her." She bit her lip. "Don't tell him, please?"

Katie's hands dropped, "Wait...did you just call Hika-chan, Hika-chan?"

"Is it a crime?"

"Maybe." Katie muttered. She looked down at her dress once more. "Do I have to come out?"

"Yes!" Dez bounced in her stall as she pulled her skirt down. "If you don't then you won't be able to see my dress."

"Oh...yeah." Katie unlatched the stall door and stepped out shyly, expecting to see Dez waiting for her. Her eyes widened as she looked at herself in the mirror across from her. "Dezy, I feel pretty."

"Yay!" Dez unhooked the door and stepped out. "Look at mine." Her skirt rustled slightly as she stepped out. The underskirt was a white satin and just passed her knees. The satin matched the inch wide trim that dipped down into the v-neck and stretched up to tie behind her neck. The same trim followed the scoop in the back that curved to her waist, just low enough to avoid the tender tattoos on her back.

Katie burst into giggles when her friend came out. The dress, she had to admit, was pretty and it did accent the small girl's figure, but the pattern that she had chosen for herself was what made Katie laugh.

"Hey!" Dez protested, pouting.

"S-sorry, Dezy, but it's just so you to be in tie-dye." The shades of reds and oranges and golden yellows complimented the multi-colored streaks in her hair.

"Be grateful I didn't put you in pink. I was tempted to." Dez stuck her tongue out at Katie before scooting close to the floor to open a bag that no one had noticed her bring in.

"Shutting up now."

"C'mere you." Dez slipped on her shoes—gold, strappy heels—and picked up a small pack that rolled out to reveal mousse and combs as well as anything else one might need to apply make-up with. "I'm putting makeup on you and moussing your hair."

"What? Why?"

"Because I said so, and I'll let you do whatever you want with my hair and make up for my birthday...as well as yours." Dez knew it was a set deal when she saw Katie's face become thoughtful. She took out the can of mousse with a grin.

"What are you doing my hair with?!" Katie sounded panicked.

"Göt 2b Kinky of course!" Dez moussed her hair gently, calming her somewhat alfalfa spikes in the back and teasing it with her comb once it was almost dry to feather it so it would still be soft to the touch. After washing her hands, she gently touched up Katie's face with simple and nearly non-existent make-up before doing her own.

She pinned some curls up and out of the way before lining her eyes with a dark blue Kohl. A few touches later and a clip-hair extension that was just as curly as her own hair and she nodded to herself. She grabbed a silver dragon armband out of the bag and slipped it onto her left upper arm. "Let's go shock the guys."

"You first." Katie rubbed her arms nervously.

She shrugged, "Fine by me."

Dez yanked the door open and stepped out, only slightly nervous about seeing either boy. She glanced around only to spot Hikaru in dark blue slacks, a white button up with the sleeves rolled passed his elbows in almost a lazy way and a deep blue vest. 'Did their mom know what we were wearing?'

She walked over to him and leaned against the wall, sighing softly as the cold stone wall touched her bare back, "Hey." She glanced at him through the bangs that fell over her left eye. 'I'm surprised he could clean up so nicely.'

Hikaru looked at her and a slow, easy grin slid over his features. "Hey yourself." He winked at her, "You live around here?"

Dez's eyes widened and her mouth fell open slightly. "I-I, no...you..." She stuttered over her flushing cheeks. 'What the hell?! I know he's Kaoru's twin but...why won't my mouth work?'

'I still got it.' Hikaru chuckled softly to himself.

Dez looked away and backhanded him in the stomach lightly, so not to wind him. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Me?" Hikaru blinked. He should have introduced himself earlier. "I'm—"

"I _know_ who you are, Hikaru-kun! Stars above, are you dense?" Dez scoffed, her sapphire eyes glittering with barely hidden irritation.

"Wait..." the gold eyes clouded with confusion only briefly. "Dez?"

"Yes, you dip!" She exclaimed, aggravated with his inability to know who she was. She smacked him harder, this time on the arm. "You don't hit on chicks that aren't Katie!" She hissed, half shocking herself with the almost blatant permission she was giving him.

As if on cue Katie and Kaoru both came out of the bathrooms. As one, the teens froze and stared at each others' outfits. Kaoru's was similar to his sibling, although the colors were dark red, soft cream and a sateen gold.

Dez's eyes roamed freely over Kaoru. 'Oh, yum.' She caught his gaze briefly and felt a shy blush creep over her cheeks.

"Wow, uh...y-you guys look n-nice." Katie stuttered, glancing from Kaoru to Hikaru.

"O-Of course they do!" Dez grinned winningly, "I didn't hijack Hikaru-kun's cell phone and call their mom for shits and giggles!" She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"You took my phone?" Hikaru's voice was shocked, "You called our mom?!" Hikaru pointed at her, "STALKER!"

Dez stuck a finger in her ear and wriggled it around. "I maybe be mostly deaf in my right ear, but you do _not_ need to scream." She sighed, "Jeez, Hikaru-kun. You really are an ass. I did this so we could all have fun. Do you really not want to be here? Are you upset that you mistakenly hit on me? Isn't Katie ke-yewt?!"

"No, no it's not that..." Hikaru began, trying to dig himself out of the hole he had fallen in. "...and I can't believe I didn't know who you were!... and yeah, she—" Hikaru realized that Katie was staring at him, waiting to hear what he was about to say. "DEZ!"

"See? I told you guys my name sounds better without honorifics." Dez grinned smugly. She stepped back as Hikaru growled at her. "That's my cue!" She spun on her heel and ran down the hall, dodging between bystanders and hoping to loose Hikaru in the process.

"Get back here!" Hikaru shouted, racing after her. 'She can't be that fast, right? She's short and in heels!' Unfortunately for Hikaru, she was very fast. Being as small as she was gave her a greater advantage when it came to weaving in and out of the crowds.

Katie, who was still blushing, sighed as she watched the two disappear. "He's going to get lost."

"Yep." Kaoru shook his head. He inhaled deeply, trying not to sigh. "Should we go after them?"

"I guess so. I just hope I don't ruin this dress after Dez spent so much time making it for me." Katie looked down over herself.

"She did?"

"Yep. I think I saw her draw it once or twice, but I never thought that she'd ever make it...especially for me." Katie smiled while tracing a few branches of the tree.

Kaoru nodded thoughtfully, "Let's split up and find them."

"Sure." Katie's smile widened into a grin, "See you later!" She ran down the hall where the others had originally disappeared.

Kaoru sighed and rested his hand over his mouth and nose, 'Wah. Dez looked so—' his train of thought was rudely interrupted by a bloody nose. "Aw, crud." He lifted his other hand to help stem the flow and retreated to the bathroom to stop it.

--

Dez ran down a familiar-looking hall. 'I think I'm almost back to where I started.' She turned a corner sharply, skidding slightly in her heels and nearly twisted her ankle. She heard someone protest behind her, 'ohshit! Ohshitohshitoshit! He's almost caught up!' She sped up and saw Kaoru ahead of her, "Help!" She ran into him and spun, dragging him with her for a few steps and she stopped. "I think I might have lost him," she panted, "but I'm not sure."

Kaoru blinked, surprised to see Dez clinging to his vest collar so suddenly, "U-um, help how?" He swallowed when she turned a pleading sapphire gaze up at him. She was the perfect height with her heels on, all he needed to do was lean down...one...more...inch. 'What am I thinking?!'

"DEZ! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Hikaru had rounded the corner and spotted the short spitfire, and it looked as if she was seducing his twin.

Dez jerked away at the same time Kaoru did and spun about to hide behind him. "Try and get me now, Hika-chan!" She spat.

"Well maybe I will!" Hikaru retorted, grimacing after he realized how childish he just sounded.

"I've..." Katie popped into view, panting and holding her stomach, "Finally found...you guys!" She stumbled toward them, forcing Hikaru to catch her or watch her drop to the ground. She blushed as an arm wrapped around her waist and a hand gripped her wrist.

"Ha!" Dez came out from behind Kaoru bravely, "That reminds me, you're supposed to hold her hand the next twenty-four hours aren't you?!" She smirked, her hands on her hips, 'Ah, I love my job.'

"B-b-but he doesn't h-have to if he d-doesn't want t-to." Katie blushed furiously. 'Why can't she just drop it? PLEASE DEZ, GOD! LET IT GO!'

Hikaru held his hands up in a placating gesture, "No, no. I lost fair and square. I'll just get her back later. Besides," he wrapped both of his arms around her midriff and pulled her flush against him, "when else would I get a chance to do this?"

Katie blushed furiously as Dez glared, extremely pissed off at the redhead in front of her, "Remember, you don't have to touch her that much!"

Hikaru smirked, "Oh really?" He nuzzled his nose into Katie's shoulder to hide the over-prideful look that he couldn't wipe off of his face. "You didn't set restrictions, did you?" He could tell that the girl he held looked like she was about to faint by the way she trembled so slightly in his embrace.

Dez started on Hikaru, looking to kill. "NOW WAIT A MIN—" A hand clapped over her mouth and she turned to Kaoru, who smiled disarmingly at her.

"Now, Dez-kun. How about we go dance for a while?" Without waiting for an answer, he lead her toward the double doors that held back the bass from the rest of the world.

Dez glared at Hikaru over her shoulder where he still stood, snuggling into Katie. "Fine...but you better not try anything funny, Hikaru!"

'Damn...that was close to Hikaru-kun dying.' Katie shook her head as Dez and Kaoru walked off. "Hey, Hikaru-kun?" She turned her head slightly to get some sort of eye contact.

"Yeah?" He moved his head away minutely, still resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Why do you do that?"

His brows furrowed in confusion. "Do what?"

"Try to piss her off?"

"Who, Dez?"

"Yup!" Katie sounded very cheerful, regardless as to the topic they were talking about.

"Well," he sighed bemusedly. "I guess I'd have to say it's because it's just so much fun to mess with her." He chuckled.

"Oh..." Katie resisted the urge to close her eyes and shake her head at him. 'I should have seen that coming.' She fidgeted slightly. "So...um, what do we do now?"

Hikaru let go of her mostly, turning her slightly so he could look at her face, "Haven't you ever been to a dance before?"

"Meh, once but the Winter Ball doesn't count. I was just going with a bunch of girl friends. Not like I had much choice, since it was Dez's last year at school." She shrugged it off.

'Oh jeez,' Hikaru smirked and rolled his eyes, "Have you never been on a date?"

Katie's face started to go pale, before changing its mind and going a bright red. "W-WAIT! No one ever said this was a DATE!" Katie stumbled back, pulling herself from Hikaru's grasp inadvertently. "Are we really on a date?!"

'Is it just sinking in?' Hikaru gently rested his hands on her shoulders in a calming gesture. "I guess you could call it that." His voice was playful, as was the glint in his eye.

Katie swallowed, "O-okay then."

Hikaru chuckled, "Come on. Let's go dance." Hikaru slid his hands down her arms and took one hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Okay?" He smiled softly at Katie when she smiled shyly back at him. 'Just calm her down, Hikaru and then you can have your fun.'

--

Dez felt a little bad for Kaoru. She had currently been kidnapped by a few old friends that had found her, and now danced in the center of the circle they had formed around her. She caught a glimpse of him from time to time, he was still dancing, but mostly he watched her. The song was upbeat and didn't let her stop to breathe for a while.

As it calmed she did a lazy pirouette and twirled, flopping into Kaoru embrace when she stumbled. She smiled up at him, laughing softly in her breathlessness. His hands were warm and held her forearms firmly so she wouldn't fall. She felt safe and sagged against his slightly to recover.

Kaoru leaned down to speak in her ear, lightly tugging on her arms so she would stand closer to him. "Are you usually this well-known?" He chuckled as she just nodded and continued to breathe deeply. "Does that mean I won't—"

The DJ picked up his microphone and cut Kaoru off in mid-sentence. "Alright, and now a song for all you lovebirds out there! First slow song of the night!"

"—get to dance with you tonight?" He finished, meeting the bright sapphire eyes of the girl in his arms.

Dez's mind took a few seconds to register what was going on. "They usually don't play slow songs..."

Kaoru chuckled to hid his nervous gulp as he slid his hands down to hers, "May I?"

"O-okay." Dez bit her bottom lip and willed the blush to stay off her cheeks, but she was flushed enough from dancing that it didn't make much of a difference. She pulled his closer toward the dance floor to a spot where not many were dancing. She moved his hands to the small of her back and stepped closer.

Kaoru's first reaction was to move his hands up, but he hit the tattoos and felt her flinch. "S-sorry." He loosened his grip embarrassedly and didn't meet her eyes.

Dez tipped his head toward hers. "It's fine, just put your hands where I showed you to." She wanted to move closer again, but his stomach was still probably tender.

The instrumental part of the song ended and the lyrics slid over the couples that slowly turned around each other. Dez blushed at the lyrics as her hands rested on Kaoru's shoulders.

'_If I fell in love with you_

_Would you promise to be true?_

_And help me understand_

'_Cause I've been in love before_

_And I've found that love was more_

_Than just holding hands.'_

Kaoru swallowed anxiously, 'Was she always this pretty?' He looked down at her and smiled. His hands slid over the small of her back soothingly and wrapped around her little tighter.

'_If I give my heart to you_

_I must be sure from the very start_

_That you would love me more than her.'_

'He really does look nice tonight...' Dez felt him pull her closer once more and gave in. She prayed she wouldn't accidentally brush against something painful as she rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes, listening to his heart beat.

'_If I trust in you, oh please_

_Don't run and hide_

_If I love you too, oh please_

_Don't hurt my pride like her_

'_Cause I couldn't stand the pain_

_And I would be sad_

_If our new love was in vain.'_

'Since when did she become this attractive to me?' He asked himself as he rested his cheek on the top of her head. The hair against his cheek was soft and smelled faintly of lemon grass and lilies.

'_So I hope you'll see that I,_

_Would love to love you...'_

'Get a hold of yourself, Dez! You know he doesn't feel that way about you. Just be happy with what you have right now...though it would be nice.' She pulled back slightly as the song ended, smiling up to her pensive dance partner.

'_If I fell in love with you.'_

'No matter how much I want it to be more...it won't be. It can't be.' Kaoru thought, staring at the space between them, not knowing that the girl before him was thinking the exact same thing.

"Um...Kaoru-san?" Dez asked hesitantly. He seemed to be thinking something important.

Kaoru woke himself from his thoughts, "Yeah?"

"The song's over. You can let go now." She blushed minutely, her eyes flicking to meet his and then away.

"Wha—oh!" He let go of her quickly, both of them stumbling awkwardly. "Sorry."

"Hey...wanna go—"

"—outside?" Kaoru finished for her.

"Just for a little while. Get some air." She smiled and took his hand shyly.

Katie sat on a bench off to the side of the main traffic in and out of the main room. A near-empty cup of water was in one hand, and Hikaru's in the other. She laughed as her company wildly swung his free hand in accompaniment to the story he was telling.

"And then, if you'll believe it, Honey jumped _all_ of them at once and they were down and out in seconds!" An almost manic grin decorated his face, his golden eyes dancing at the memory.

"Wow!" Katie laughed, "That's simply amazing!" She lifted the hand holding the cup to semi-stifle her giggles with her wrist. I wonder how he managed to do that, being so small."

"It's not like he's Dez or anything!" He joked, shaking his head. "Well, you see—" he stopped when someone tapped his shoulder. He turned to see a tall, thin girl in a _micro-_mini skirt and belly shirt.

"Hey there!" Her voice was over-sugared and semi-nasally.

"Um, hi?" Hikaru's brow furrowed. 'Who the hell is this chick, and why is she talking to me?'

"You're cute!" She continued, making herself sound even more like the ditz random blonde that she was.

'American girls, definitely forward.' He assessed. He swallowed, "Um, thanks?"

"Wanna dance?" She was being annoyingly insistent in Katie's view, and if she was a bolder person she might have pulled a Dez and snapped at the girl.

Hikaru looked at Katie, "Well—"

"Great!" She grabbed his arm and hauled him up to his feet and started to drag him to the dance floor.

"Whoa!" Hikaru nearly toppled over, dragging Katie with him. He tried his best not to let go of her hand, but a throng of people decided to leave the double doored room and their hands broke apart.

'Where did he go?' Katie started at her now empty hand, not even registering that she had dumped her water on the floor. 'Where am I?' She looked around, taking a few steps in each direction. "Hikaru-kun?" She walked toward the nearest door she saw and found that it led outside. Not sure that she could leave and come back without Dez, she sat down on the bench and sighed, hoping that she'd be found eventually. 'Oh man, I'm lost again...'

Kaoru opened the door for Dez and himself. He was telling a story about his brother that he was sure would make Dez laugh, "And that's when Hikaru—Dez-kun?"

Dez had stepped in and found herself face to face with a large crowd of guys. It looked like they had found a victim. 'Heathens...' she thought to herself. As they started to pass the group she paused, something felt wrong.

"Dez-kun? Are you okay?" Kaoru rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Is that...Katie?" Dez saw a blushing face through the clump of boys. She didn't wait for Kaoru to say anything, but started shoving the boys away. When a few protested she raised a fist and glared. It was shocking that such a gesture from someone so small could make the boys put their hands up in a 'don't hurt me' gesture and back off.

Katie was so relieved to see the Dez that the stormy gray eyes didn't frighten her off. She sagged with relief, and let the older girl drag her off by the hand. She followed silently as they left Kaoru behind and returned to a more familiar part of the felt a little better each step they took away from the boys. They had been very forward and intimidating and cut off any means of escape. Some seemed like they were joking with their advances, but there were others who weren't. She could hear their voices, all jumbling together in all sorts of womanizing nicknames that made her tremble in the oddest way.

Kaoru went to turn to Dez, when he finally realized that she had disappeared, that the boys were nursing wounded prides, and Katie was nowhere in sight. 'Aw, crap.'

Hikaru couldn't escape from the annoying blonde girl and her friends. More of them popped up whenever he thought he had found an exit. He never thought he would be so relieved to hear Dez yelling at him.

"HIKARU!" Dez nearly screeched, grabbing him by the ear. She gave the girls around him a death glare and bared her teeth menacingly. She dragged him back toward the double doors where she had told Katie to wait.

"OW!" Hikaru grabbed her wrist to keep her from ripping his ear off. "Let go of me, you crazy bitch!"

Dez ignored his protest, or the harsh grip on her wrist that she was pretty sure would leave a bruise if he grabbed any harder. 'I wouldn't blame him if he did though, I doubt he wants to be Hikaru-the-One-Eared-Wonder.' She continued toward Katie, who had yet another cluster of males growing around her. She shoved Hikaru at Katie after kicking a few boys in the shins or rear to get them out of her way. A few of them looked as if they were about to protest, but the look in her eyes quickly changed their minds. She grabbed both of their hands and clasped them together before whopping Hikaru upside the head.

"DAMN IT WOMAN!" Hikaru had a hand to his head and tears in his eyes. "STOP HURTING ME!"

The temperature of her eyes was quickly reaching 'freezing'. She stepped closer to him and her glare intensified, "Then. Stop. Letting. Go!" She hissed through her teeth. "That's what happens when you leave her alone! Bad things! Bad, bad things!" She inhaled slowly, her hands in tight fists. "As your punishment, your time has _restarted_. And an hour has been added." She was so furious that Katie had been left when Hikaru _knew_ she couldn't take care of herself that she didn't realize that her own actions might make her regret it later.

Hikaru's eyes were wide. He was visibly more afraid of the spitfire in front of him rather than his 'punishment'. She had a redhead's temper more than he ever would have. "My god, you're harsh!"

"Oh forget it." She grumbled and glanced down at her watch. "Let's go home, it's almost eleven anyway. I'm still under eighteen, so I can't drive past midnight."

"Okay." Katie was the only one who sounded remotely happy. She was just glad that everyone was back together and she had familiar people teasing her, not strangers. She watched the stars pass overhead as Dez drove back, ignoring the silence around them.

--

Dez parked and yanked on the parking brake hard. The silent ride had been grating on her nerves more and more as the minutes ticked by. "I can't _take_ it anymore!" She screamed, throwing herself from the jeep. She kicked her heels off, stomped to the back of the jeep and gathered up everyone's clothes and marched toward the house.

"T-take what?" Katie called after her, scrambling as best as could to get out of the jeep. She had already taken her shoes off and they dangled from her hand. She dragged Hikaru slightly after her as she hopped onto the damp grass.

"The silence!" She didn't mean to yell, but there were hardly any neighbors, and right now she didn't care. She was so frustrated with nearly everything in that moment that she wasn't sure if she wanted to scream or cry or hit something. She shivered as if cold as Katie neared, the boys trailing after her. She covered her face with her hands and took a deep breath, banishing the tears that burned her eyes.

"Well, we didn't exactly leave the dance under the best circumstances." Hikaru didn't sound like he was reprimanding or condescending. His tone was decidedly flat. He just hoped that the quivering girl in front of them wasn't going to explode again, especially at him.

She back handed him half-heartedly and turned, trying several times before successfully putting the key in the lock. "No one asked you." She mumbled as she shoved the door open and dumped everything on the bottom step before drifting toward the dining room.

The others followed to find her moving chairs out of the way and shoving the table. "Go get your pajamas and meet back here. You've got ten minutes...and bring all the pillows and blankets you can find. Understood?" She watched them nod, except for Hikaru, who crossed his arms over his chest—dragging Katie with him as he hadn't let go of her hand—and firmly stood his ground.

"Make me." He raised a brow defiantly. It was against his better judgment than to stand up to Dez at the moment, after she had gone through so much that her voice sounded a little hoarse even now, but he couldn't help it. Something inside him kept his mouth loose, he couldn't help but retort. He winced on the inside and hoped someone would save his prideful butt before the spitfire kicked it into next year.

Katie pulled him toward the living room. "Come on, Hikaru-kun. Just go with it. Don't give her an excuse to hit you...again." She smiled back at Dez.

"I'll be back in five." Hikaru swallowed.

"I bet I can beat you," Dez mumbled under her breath, feeling slightly better.

"You're on." Hikaru's hand landed on her head and he 'pushed off' getting a head start. He raced up the stairs, a growling Dez on his heels.

"NO FAIR!"

Katie sighed and shook her head giggling. "It's never gonna stop, is it?"

"Nope." Kaoru began to walk slowly toward the stairs.

"Sorry about Dez." Katie's voice was very soft. Her head was bowed when Kaoru looked back at her, and her hands were clasped in front of her. "Hikaru-kun and you don't know it but...her mom called her this morning. Dez got really stressed out over it. She didn't tell me what it was about, but it's really wearing her down." Katie shifted nervously and looked up at Kaoru, her gaze hopeful. "I know you don't know us that well, since we've only been hanging out for a few days, but do you think you could help her not think about it?"

Kaoru was silent. 'Dez has problems, and I really shouldn't get involved. Maybe Hikaru and I should back out after these four days. Is it...is it worth it? Is she worth it?' Kaoru turned away from her. "We'll see what I can do." It didn't feel like he was lying, if he didn't look at her. "See you in ten."

"You're going to take your time to piss them off?" Katie walked over to him, smiling.

"Yup." He started up the stairs.

"Me too." Katie grabbed her skirts and followed, laughing.

Ten minutes later saw Dez bouncing around and making a nest—as she called it—out of blankets and pillows. Hikaru stood by Katie, his forearm resting on her shoulder, and watched the spitfire with a puzzled look on his face. "What are you doing?"

"Well," Dez tossed a pillow at Hikaru, and smiled when he 'caught' it with his face. "I wanted us to enjoy the stars. I noticed Katie staring at them while I drove. I thought about doing it outside, but considering Maine's black fly and mosquito population, we'd be eaten alive." She resisted a giggle when she heard Katie mutter that the mosquito was the Maine state bird, not the chickadee but her smile fell as she saw something that made her mouth turn down. "Hand!"

Hikaru jumped, "Huh? Oh, oops." He took Katie's hand, not even bothering to protest. He tried not to shiver as Dez smiled at him, a cool look in her eyes and a smug look on her face.

"That's better." Dez smiled and flopped back onto the pile of blankets with a happy sigh. Kaoru laid down next her and scooted over so the others would have enough room.

Kaoru pillowed his head on his arms and looked up at the sky. It was a dark sapphire, much darker than the eyes of his companion, laced with indigo and a deep violet. Soft clouds were few and picked up small rays of the sun that arched around the Earth just enough to highlight them a lighter shade of the sky. The stars shone brightly everywhere, and fireflies danced.

"Wow." Katie laid back, a pillow propping her head up as well as Hikaru's.

"Beautiful," Kaoru remarked, glancing at Dez out of the corner of his eye, a small curve to his lips. The sparse light traced her body, just like everyone else's. 'Maybe it is worth the hassle. It couldn't hurt to stick around a little longer, right?'

Hikaru settled in before saying anything, "You're right, Kaoru."

"So it was a good idea." Dez stretched and moved closer to Kaoru stealthily, hoping he wouldn't notice for a little while. Even though it was summer, it was getting cold and she hadn't started a fire since they hadn't been home for several hours.

Kaoru glanced at her and took her hand, squeezing it gently. "Yup."

Hikaru chuckled from his spot, "I guess so."

Dez leaned up on one elbow, her fingers still twined with Kaoru's. "Wow, Hikaru...you're actually being nice, aren't you?" She laughed at the mock-glare he gave her. Although they had been fighting earlier, now the mood was magically lighter and they could tease each other without fighting over it.

"Be quiet you." There was no fire of temper, but a nearly hidden smile. He almost had the urge to wink as Dez flopped back down.

"Hey Dezy?" Katie asked a few minutes later.

"Hmm?" Dez didn't want to say more than that. She was unsure how much longer she would be able to use Kaoru's chest as a pillow. She didn't bother opening her eyes or anything, this was just really comfortable.

"What are we gonna do after we leave this place?" Katie pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked over the two boys to her friend.

"Dunno." She cracked an eye open to look at her. "Probably go back to Augusta and continue our life as it goes. Maybe hang out there occasionally or something. I usually die socially during summer, but since this is my last one before my apprenticeship I've kept myself from doing that."

"Oh yeah... Bath Iron Works. You're gonna be designing big boats or something." Katie teased her gently before turning to the boys, "Kaoru-kun? Hikaru-kun?" Katie asked anxiously.

"Yeah?" They responded, turning toward the shyer of the girls.

"Do you promise to still be with us for a little longer once we leave?" She looked at them in turn. "Please, just a little while."

Kaoru looked at Dez, whose eyes were cracked open slightly as she looked at Katie, "Sure." It couldn't hurt to hang around with them longer. If there were any warning signs of becoming attached, Hikaru would know and tell him.

Dez wrapped her arm around Kaoru's middle and hugged him, "Thanks."

"Hikaru-kun?" Katie whispered.

Hikaru met her eyes for a full five seconds before replying. "Sure." He felt bad about lying, but really. What was keeping him here was only pure boredom. He was positive that he could find a replacement for both girls in a matter of minutes in the Portland Mall.

"You promise?" Katie's voice was even softer than before. She moved closer, so their faces were only a few inches away.

He squeezed her hand, 'Aw hell, what could it hurt?' He felt a little weird for giving into her so easily. "Okay, I promise."

Katie gave him her best winning smile, one that could melt anyone's heart. "Thanks." She laid down and watched the stars until her eyelids got so heavy that she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Dez and Kaoru were the last to drift off, as Dez had been whispering star names and constellations as well as astrological mythology to him while pointing them out one at a time. Dez yawned in the middle of her story, but she kept going, until Kaoru put a finger to her lips and told her to sleep. It only took her a few minutes to be safely slumbering in his arms. Kaoru stroked her hair as he thought about the last few days. 'Living without them wouldn't be that big a deal, would it? We could manage without them, right?' Kaoru left himself drift off while contemplating, 'Maybe...just maybe we cant. Maybe we do need them as much as they seem to need us.'

**NOTE: **_This last bit of the story marks over __**100 pages!!!**__YAY! I think I might cry -sniffles- I'm so happy that all of you have stayed with us so long! (Technically it's 102 by now, but that's fine.) I hope you all are waiting with baited breath for the next chapter, I know my beta boy is! -pats Gatamigo on the head- He's really anxious to read it! Until next week, happy reading!_

_**PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL US WHAT YOU THINK! KREATIVE AND I WOULD BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL. (And don't worry, non-member reviews are allowed, but please leave your e-mail if you can, we like to reply to each and every review if we can, especially if you have questions.)**_


	7. Betting Games and Aeroplanes

_**WORD COUNT: **9,495_

**NOTE: **_I'm thrilled to say that we're on chapter seven! I know by the end of this we'll have crossed the 50K word mark. Woot! Just as a side note, I pluralize chibi with an 'x' and not an 's'. So no, there weren't any accidental spelling errors.(It's in here somewhere?) I hope you like this chappie. It seems like they just get a little longer every time. I keep on thinking 'Oh, this'll be a short one' and it's not. Not that anyone is really complaining, that just means there is more to read!_

**DISCLAIMER: **_**We (Kreative and I) do not own Kaoru and Hikaru at the moment. The minute that this changes, we'll let you know.**_

**Beta'd by **_**Gatamigo**_**!**

Chapter Seven: Betting Games and Aeroplanes

Katie was warm. Very warm. It was a comfy warm, and she really didn't want to be awake. Sadly, the sun had other plans, like shining at her face. And for some reason, the sun was partying or something, because it seemed to be strobe-lighting, going off at random intervals. Her mind was fuzzy as she drifted in a deeper sleep, then a shallower one, and back again. Her ears kept on picking up random words but soon she could put them together.

"Oh my gods," the voice whispered, "that's so CUTE!" Another strobing ray of light attacked her eyelids and she tried to lift her arm to cover her face, but it felt as if her hand was tied down. "My goodness, I don't know how much more I can take!"

An odd noise reached her ears as she awakened a little more. What kind of noise was it? It sounded like...an animal? She couldn't be sure. She pushed the thoughts away and snuggled deeper into the warmth behind her. It was a little squishy and moved slightly, almost rocking her to sleep.

There it was again! That noise! Katie cracked her eyes open, determined to find out what was going on.

"Hikaru's never going to live this down." The chuckle was definitely masculine, or at least more masculine than the voice that had first attacked Katie's sleeping ears.

'What are they talking about? Someone's taking pictures of...me...?' Katie tried to roll over, but something was preventing her from moving back. Her eyebrows furrowed as she became even more awake.

"Oh, shoot! She's waking up. Quick, take a couple more!" That voice was the feminine one, and it was so familiar...why couldn't she place it? Wait, there was a name to it...Désirée...yes! It was Dez!

"What's going on?" Katie mumbled sleepily, she tried to bring a hand up to rub at her eyes to help her see, but one was pinned under her and the other was stuck on something, but she couldn't tell what. She blinked against the bright sun and the shiny object in Kaoru's hands, 'What the hell? A camera?' It was then that Katie realized _why_ she couldn't move her arm and _why _ they were taking pictures. 'Oh sna—'

"WHAT'S WITH THE CAMERA?!" Hikaru was suddenly and completely awake, and aware of how he was laying on the floor. One arm pillowed his head, and the other just happened to be curled around the girl in front of him, his fingers still linked with hers. He was just a little taller, which made him able to outline her body with his in a very protective position.

Katie jumped with a small, "Eep!" from his shouting and fought to keep from changing color as a smirk slid home on Dez's face.

"Ha! Even in your _sleep_ you kept to your bargain. You're still holding hands, if you didn't know." Dez held her hand out for the camera and took it with a smile from Kaoru. She frowned when the two teens jumped apart and were suddenly standing and brushing themselves off or straighteningtheir clothes, apologizing to each other at the same time.

Kaoru laughed, his forearm rested on Dez's shoulder to keep himself standing. A few seconds later his forehead joined his arm and he had to concentrate on breathing. 'Why is it hard to breathe when I'm this close to her?'

Dez sighed happily, "Okay, okay, as cute as that was...HANDS!" She wiped at her eye, accidentally jostling Kaoru's arm. She blinked at the limb and looked at Kaoru's very-near face, blushing faintly. She didn't even notice the groan that came from the two teens.

"Jeez, Dez! Give is a rest already. I mean, come on!" Katie protested as a warm hand slid into hers. She stopped complaining as slim fingers twined with hers and squeezed. She fought everything she had to not look over at him.

"Nope!" The teens surrounding the short girl could almost see the hearts floating about her.

"Whatever," Hikaru shook his head and moved behind Katie, briefly letting go of her hand so he could wrap his arms around her waist and grab both of her hands. He pulled her close, "Which means you _still_ can't stop me from doing something like this...or worse."

"Worse?" Katie squeaked.

Dez glared at the blush on Katie's cheeks, as if it were to blame. "Damn it, you stupid loopholes!" She grumbled. As soon as she could find some flimsy roundabout way to blame it on Hikaru and open her mouth, she would. Unfortunately for her, Katie interrupted her thought pattern shortly after she began her thought process made her forget it completely.

"Can we have muffins?" The taller girl's head cocked innocently to the side.

Both boys turned to her in sync, "What?" Mirrored brows her lifted, making both of them look very inquisitive. 'Where did _that_ come from?'

Kaoru opened his mouth and asked her just that. "Where did that come from, Katie-chan?"

Katie shrugged, "I dunno. I felt like it?"

Dez rubbed her left temple, a crooked smile on her lips. "Sure Katie." She ran her hand through her hair, wincing whenever she hit a knot. 'Whatever makes her happy...especially after yesterday.' She almost slapped herself across the face for thinking that. She didn't need any more reminders about the disastrous beginning and ending of that day.

Katie bounced over to Dez and dragged her away from Kaoru, not even stopping when he nearly lost his balance. She hauled her by her hands, but when she realized that the smaller girl wasn't going any further than the kitchen door, she gave up and searched for what she needed, calling back to her to ask where something was if she couldn't find it.

"I swear, Katie-kun, sometimes it amazes me how simple minded you are." Hikaru leaned into the kitchen so she could hear him.

"Actually," Dez crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at the unknowing twin in front of her, "you'd be surprised by her." The smirk became a harmless smile when the gold eyes snapped to her.

"How...?" He asked, not surprised to hear his brother slightly echo him, as though they had started at almost the same time.

Katie straightened from where she had been pawing through the bowls when she found the one she wanted. "I'm actually quite smart, you know!" She huffed as she put the bowl on the counter and resisted the urge to pout at the boys gawking at her from the doorway.

Hikaru glanced at his brother and they shared a look that obviously said, 'Pfft...yeah, right.' They stiffened a little when they heard Dez clear her throat. The spitfire had seen the look.

"She really is. Don't make fun of her." Dez raised an eyebrow at Kaoru challengingly. She kept her facial gestures to a minimum when she saw both guys swallow at her look.

"I call BS." Kaoru thought it would be smarter if he said what he _knew_ his twin was thinking. He had a greater chance of not getting hit...he hoped.

"Hey!" Katie called, nearly dropping the flour canister. She laughed quietly when she saw Dez flinch. 'As if I'd drop a ceramic container filled with flour.'

"You don't really have an argument." Hikaru stepped over the leg that had blocked his way into the kitchen and leaned against the cool refrigerator. He didn't flinch at the uncharacteristic hard look in Katie's brownie eyes, though it was difficult. He was used to getting those looks from Dez, but Katie was _special_. It made her look not scary...but, stubborn

"She does!" Dez sang with a cat-like grin.

Both twins deadpanned at Dez, not believing the short girl for an instant. "Prove it." Hikaru leaned on his twin's shoulder and they crossed their arms, looking completely identical (except for the parts in their hair) in every way.

Katie turned around and walked toward them. She stopped a foot away and smiled cheerfully. "I have an IQ of 145!" Her voice bounced and sounded extremely chipper. She knew that Dez was enjoying this from the snort that snuck between her fingers.

"Huh?" Kaoru gawked.

"Wha—?" Hikaru nearly lost his balance and fell over.

"I CALL BS!" The twins pointed at Katie, the look on their faces saying that they meant it now. They weren't joking this time. They didn't even back down when Dez continued to smile and informed them that Katie wasn't lying.

Katie shoved Dez out, who in turn moved the boys effortlessly. "I'm getting the muffin stuff ready." She shut the door between the dining room and the kitchen firmly and stalked back over to the counter.

Dez got up on her tiptoes to look through the window near the top of the door to watch Katie for a moment. She turned when she heard a loud thump and saw Hikaru had flopped back down onto the 'nest'.

"Wait, wait, wait." His hands were over his eyes and he shook his head back and forth, as if to clear it. He moved his hands away as Kaoru sat down next to him, cross-legged. "Let me get this straight. Katie-kun, our Katie-kun," he dug out his phone and flipped it open, searching for something. He flipped it around and showed a picture of Katie drawing a very detailed picture on the bay window with a dry-erase marker to Dez, "_THIS_ Katie-kun is as smart as a college freshman?!"

"Basically!" Dez grinned and grabbed a chair, sitting in it sideways she she could lean on the back with her right side. "There are some minor weaknesses in Math and Geography, but with a bit of tutoring from me there would be no problems. She just doesn't like those subjects. She needs to take more art, if you ask me, but her mom doesn't think she should go down that path. English and Writing is moot for her, she constantly is reading and writing. There is no failure for her there."

Kaoru twitched, "That is creepy." His puzzled gaze slipped to Dez, "But why is she weak in Math and Geography? What grade level is that?"

"She struggles with it more or less on a US sophomore level. Say, third year middle-schooler for you two? Our education sucks over here." She shook her head, "If we didn't have such issues I could have skipped two whole grades, but _no._" She shrugged, "As for why Katie doesn't do so well in those areas? She just doesn't like them. I'm severely into _anything_ computers, and therefore Math is one I work with enough. And reading is wonderful." Des sighed wistfully, thinking of the books she had at home.

"Since she has the smarts..." Hikaru began. He drifted off and the look on his face was so uncertain that Kaoru wasn't sure what he was trying to say and couldn't finish his sentence for him. "Does she ever use it?"

"Ooh, yeah." Dez shook her head at a memory fond to her. A soft smile teased her lips. "Next time you see her having one of those moments...when she's just staring off at nothing? Ask her what she's thinking about." The smile brightened. "You might be surprised!" She stood and put the chair out of the way. "C'mon. We better go check on her. She's probably in need of our help by now."

'If she hasn't hurt herself yet.' The boys gave each other wary looks and stood, following the brunette to the kitchen. They were surprised—as they came up behind Katie—that the counter was remarkably clean.

Dez sagged minutely with relief. 'At least she's kept it clean.'

"Um, do you need any help with that Katie?" Hikaru hesitated, a hand reaching out to touch her shoulder.

"Oh no, I'm fine!" Katie turned around, unaware that her face and apron was covered with flour and spots of dough. "I'm almost done, anyway!"

The group almost fell over out of shock. 'OH MY GOD...'

Kaoru was the first to speak, "What did you do..."

"TO MY MUFFINS!?" Dez flailed. She hardly noticed the weird look on Kaoru's face as she had finished his sentence for him. She felt a little bad for interrupting, or finishing his sentence with something he hadn't meant to say, but she didn't care at the moment. She couldn't stop staring at the mess on Katie's face.

"What did you do to your face?" Hikaru chuckled, not expecting the short girl next to him to spin and smack him on the back of his head. Frankly, he was surprised she could _reach_. "WHAT?!"

"THERE'S NO TIME FOR THAT CRAP!" Dez's hands were in fists against her thighs, her eyes flashing a dangerous gray.

"I WASN'T EVEN TALKING ABOUT YOU!" Hikaru threw his hands in the air as all hostility dissipated instantly and Dez gave a half-assed apology, stunned by his explosion. "Crazy bitch..." he muttered under his breath.

The glare snapped back, "What was that?" She froze and held her hands up in a 'truce' gesture. "Never mind. Come on Kaoru, let's go play cards or...something..." She just wanted to get out of the kitchen.

Kaoru shrugged, "Sure." He had nothing better to do, the excitement was all over now. He might as well go play with Dez, maybe tease her a little bit. 'And get teased back,' he almost felt pleased at that thought, 'That could be fun.'

Hikaru watched them leave, shell-shocked. He walked over to Katie, his mouth hanging open. "Holy crap..." he looked down at Katie, "She didn't hit me!"

Katie gawked at the doorway where Dez had just been standing a few moments ago. "My god, what have you done to Dez?!"

"Nothing!" Hikaru defended himself weakly. To no one's surprise Dez came back in and hugged Katie before turning to smack Hikaru in the sternum, making it hard to breathe for several seconds. "What the—" He croaked, indignantly.

"That was for earlier." Her eyes were surprisingly not gray, but still a bright blue. She was teasing him, as if saying that the hit was punishment enough. "I forgot." She almost sounded benevolent. _Almost_. She waved cheerily and left them alone to stare at her, flabbergasted.

"...She's _so_ sketchy." Hikaru repressed a shudder.

Katie's hands clapped themselves over her mouth as she tried to stifle her giggles. "Don't worry, she really doesn't hold anything against you."

"Like hell she doesn't!" Hikaru huffed, shoving his hands into his pockets and glaring at the floor. Some days he really just didn't get girls, however, this case with Dez and Katie? A lot worse. They changed a lot, and it wasn't just mood swings (although Dez had enough of those to cover _both_ girls). Just as he thought he understood them, something made him second guess. Katie was mostly predictable to him...but for some reason his perceptions of her would keep shifting as soon as he got comfortable.

"Really, Hikaru-kun, she doesn't. She just isn't very open-minded when it comes to anyone being flirtatious with me." Katie grinned and rocked back on her heels, her hands clasped before her in a childish way.

Hikaru tore away from his thoughts and turned an inquisitive gaze to her, "Why?" What right did Dez have to chase off anyone who _flirted_ with Katie? As far as he could tell, everyone in Maine flirted in one way or another...or they were just that friendly. 'No way anyone is that nice...except Katie.' Hikaru blinked, he had been making quite a few exceptions to Katie lately...hadn't he?

Katie looked confused by his question. "What do you mean?" She nearly crossed her arms over her chest semi-defensively, but stopped herself. It was only Hikaru, he was just being too blunt to seriously mean anything by it.

Hikaru cleared his throat. "I mean, you're not even blood relations. Why does she care?" He looked genuinely confused about how much the shorty cared about the mildly pink girl that was still swaying in front of him. 'What makes her so special to not only Dez, but to me?'

Katie sighed and tried to think of a way to explain. Her index finger tapped her bottom lip gently as she pondered. "Well..." her nose winkled delicately in thought, "she's been my friend from the get go. It was so base in its start I think she proclaimed us as friends at 'hi'." Katie chuckled, her hands dropping. "She's like the big sister I never had. A fraternal twin who just happens to be two years older than me."

Twins, Hikaru could understand. He tried to picture a first meeting between the girls, Katie's obvious shyness and Dez's energetic over-the-top-with-just-about-everything-ness. A soft smile curled his lips visibly, he could picture Katie blushing and stuttering as Dez crushed her in a hug. "But...why is she so—"

"Overprotective?" Katie finished for him. "I guess it's cause I can't really protect myself." She nervously played with the black star button that was woven into a blue cord around her neck, the one that matched Dez's except the older girl's was orange. "When is comes to guys, at least."

This caught his attention. He casually leaned against the counter, resting his hands on the edge of the cool surface behind him, and met her eyes levelly. "Um, why, might I ask?" He tried not to sound exasperated.

Katie blushed furiously as her hands began to nervously run over each other, absently knocking flour off and onto the floor. "B-because I never know any better..." Her voice was very quiet as her eyes darted down to stare in the vicinity of his knees. She started again, "I never know any better when s-somebody's flirting with me." She sighed and looked up hesitantly, "To put it plainly, I'm completely obtuse. A guy could be doing a fan dance with a lettuce leaf and I wouldn't know any better." She sighed, meeting the curious gold gaze that hadn't left her, "I maybe be smart, but I'm utterly naïve when it comes to romance."

Katie had expected the awkward silence that had followed. She gently chewed on the inside of her cheek before turning away from the staring teen. It wasn't a blank stare, she could tell. It was like he was trying to see inside her, to measure her character with his eyes and it was unnerving. She cleared her throat before continuing a little too cheerfully, "Well then, I'd better get these done before Dez gets back!"

She felt the gaze lift from her back briefly and she let herself relax. As she turned back toward him asking, "Hikaru-kun, could you get the bowl of blueberries that are on the stove for me please—" She realized that he was standing behind her, the bowl already in his hands.

"You mean these ones?" An arm wrapped around her waist, and Hikaru moved closer so he could pour the blueberries into the batter in front of them. He rested his chin on her shoulder so she couldn't turn away from him and escape.

"Y-yeah, those ones." Katie prayed that he couldn't see her blush out of the corner of his eye.

Hikaru ignored the heat that he could feel from her face and took her hand, wrapping it around the handle of the spoon in the batter and putting his over it. He helped her stir the mixture, "Katie-kun, why are you so..." he paused, fishing for the best word to use, "Underachieved in romance? You're not _that_ bad looking...I can't see why you wouldn't have luck."

"Well Hikaru-kun, not everyone can be as confident and outgoing as you and Kaoru-kun. I suppose you could say it's an issue of confidence within myself." She removed his hand from hers so she could spoon the batter into each paper-lined cup in the tin.

Hikaru stepped back, unsure if she was brushing him off, or just trying to finish the muffins without making a mess. "Wait, you're saying that not a single guy has ever asked you out?"

"No," Katie blushed, "The only time that it happened was when a guy was forced to ask me on a dare. It was just a joke, so I guess it added on rejection issues to the whole lack-of-confidence thing."

'Wow,' Hikaru thought, analyzing the somewhat dejected form before him, 'She really analyzes all of this pretty thoroughly.' Hikaru resisted the urge to clear his throat, "So, l-last night, that was your first date?" His brow furrowed at the choked feeling in his throat. Why was this hard to say for him? Why did his face feel warm, for that matter? "Ever?"

Katie's cheeks burned a deep red, her embarrassment clear to anyone with eyes. "Y-yeah, I guess you could say that." She picked the tins up and walked over to the oven to put them in, it had gotten up to temperature as they talked.

"Well then," Hikaru seemed to bow to her as he opened the oven door so she could put the muffins in, "I'm glad that I was a first." He kept the smirk off his face when she blushed and avoided his eyes, thanking him. Unsure why he kept the smirk away when Katie could see, he watched her move away reluctantly. 'God, she's adorable.'

"Now that I'm done cooking, I need to wash up." She set the timer before untying the apron and hanging it up in the pantry as she made her way to the shower room.

"Jeez," Hikaru muttered to himself as he ran his hands over his face, "Why does she have to act that way?" He could feel the blush forming under his fingers, "In that little shy way that makes me want to make her smile." He moved his hands away abruptly when he heard her turn the water off.

Katie came back in with her ladybug barrette teeth. She ran her damp hands through her short hair and sashayed to the narrow mirror that hung between the two windows over the sink and fixed her hair. "There we are," she smiled, snapping the clip in place, "All clean!"

Hikaru smirked and stepped over to her, "Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah..." Katie's puzzled look nearly melted him on the spot. "I just washed my face."

'How does she do that?' He wondered as his fingertips captured her chin, "Well, you missed a spot." His soft voice held a lilt of minor teasing as he leaned in and licked her cheek, where a fleck of dough remained. "There, now you're clean."

Katie's face lit up, red like a ripe cherry. "What did you do that for?!"

He smirked, but didn't relinquish his hold on her chin. Such beautiful emotions danced over her face and he wanted to witness every single one. "Do what?" He watched her struggled to answer while being forced to look him in the face.

"That!?" She nearly flailed, but didn't. She clearly couldn't keep herself from freaking out. "I just finished telling you that I don't like being teased by guys!"

Hikaru stepped closer, his eyes locked onto hers. "And what if I wasn't teasing, hm?" He stepped a little closer, turning slightly so that the counter was behind her. "What if," he leaned down, "I was being," their faces were inches apart, "dead serious?" Any onlooker would expect them to kiss in only a few seconds.

"I-I would—" Katie began, her eyes darting frantically between the molten eyes and the lips that were close, too close.

"Katie!" Dez's voice called through the house, "Are the muffins ready yet?"

The teens jerked away, Katie wincing as her back met the counter a little more forcefully than she had wanted. She glanced at Hikaru and almost knew that the same thought was dashing through their minds, 'Oh my god, what was I THINKING?!'

Dez ambled in, her hands in the pockets in her shorts. She stopped in the dead center of the kitchen and stared hard at Hikaru. She laughed on the inside as he twitched under her gaze.

"What?" He asked irritably.

"I'm trying to decide if you behaved or not." Her left hand scratched her cheek in a near-calculating gesture.

"Wha—?" Hikaru couldn't even finished the sentence before Dez had stalked over to him and smacked him upside the head with a hollow slap. "HEY! You don't even have _proof_ that I did anything!"

"Meh," She shrugged, her hand returning to her pocket. "I went with gut feeling, plus Katie's blushing like no tomorrow. That tells me that you at least tried to pull something while I wasn't around."

"S-sorry..." Katie couldn't hide her blush as she looked down at the floor, as if there was something interesting on it.

"But we didn't _do_ anything!" Hikaru protested.

"He's telling the truth Dez," Katie's brownie eyes danced up to the sapphire eyes of her best friend. She could see, in an instant, once again Dez was only teasing. 'Dez has softened quite a bit toward Hikaru...I wonder if he's actually noticed this, though.' She waited to see what Dez was going to do next.

The brunette sighed and shook her head, trying to hold back her grin. "Okay, whatever. Are the muffins ready or not?" She grinned wider when Katie pointed at the timer wordlessly. "Ah." She stepped closer so that she could read it and smiled, "About seven minutes. That means we have enough time for you to help me kick Hikaru's butt in Go Fish!" The look on her face resembled a grinning fox.

Hikaru smirked, "Pfft, you wish." He rolled his eyes at her.

"How much do you want to bet on that?" Dez's grin didn't move as her hands rested on her hips, her entire pose radiating a challenge. 'This is gonna be good. I just can't help egging him on!' She laughed on the inside, wondering what to wager this time.

"What?" Katie looked between the two smiling teens and suppressed a shudder.

"I dunno," Hikaru tapped her cheek thoughtfully, "What's up for grabs this time?"

"N-now wait a m-minute!" Katie tried to stop them, but it was as if they were talking over her head—which for Dez was a feat in itself.

"A few gallons of homemade apple cider." She nearly wilted at the look Hikaru gave her, "I didn't make it, bastard, it's safe. And if you don't think it's worth it than we can always get...creative." The grin returned, 'Stars above, this nearly sounds like flirting. Please, gods, don't make me puke!'

"I-I dunno, you guys." Katie's voice had softened considerably as she notice that the older teens had paid her no attention while she objected to their actions.

Hikaru held out his hand, "Fine, if I win, you can't touch Katie for a _whole_ day."

"Now hold on there!" Katie didn't want to be a bargaining chip any more than Kaoru did in her mind. Some sort of reward, Dez could last... without... touching... Aw, hell, who did she think she was kidding? Dez couldn't help hugging Katie daily! This might be torture if she lost. 'Wait, I wouldn't get mauled by Dez...' Katie shook her head at the 'traitorous' thoughts.

"And if I win—which I'm _so_ gonna—you can't touch Kaoru for a day. 24 hours!" Dez clasped Hikaru's hand and shook it firmly, a wicked smile on her face. She tugged, making him loose his balance and started toward the living room.

"Why?" Katie looked up at the ceiling, as if pleading the heavens for an answer, "Why must they always bet?" She slouched and followed, "I'll go get the cards."

Hikaru plopped down on a cushion and leaned back on his hands, smiling at his twin across from him. In a few words he filled him in on what he had missed as Dez scooped up the magazine she had been looking at with Kaoru to clear room for the cards.

"You know," Hikaru drawled, "It'll be harder to beat me at a game that I am familiar with."

"But that doesn't mean I won't beat you." Dez could feel the sparks fly between him when his warm eyes locked onto her cool ones. She felt Katie toss the deck of cards and flinched, a hand flying to behind her back. She caught them just before they could reach her spine and tossed them over her own shoulder, catching it with her now free hand. She pleasantly ignored the stares as if this was something she did constantly and with ease. She plopped next to him and back handed him in the stomach, knocking him flat onto his back.

Hikaru winced and rubbed the back of his head as he struggled to get his elbow on solid ground to push himself up. "What was that for?"

"Well," Dez's hand sheepishly scratched the back of her neck, "I anticipated some sort of impudent remark...but you didn't react." She jerked her hand sharply, sliding the cards out in a sudden movement and shuffled them extraordinarily fast and dealt.

"That's because I didn't want to get hit!"

"Oops?" She jumped over the coffee table and nearly fell on top of Kaoru. She smiled at him reassuringly when she caught her balance, a knee resting against the side of his thigh, before straightening suddenly and doing a quick about-face. She sat promptly, hoping that the boys weren't too shocked with her sudden display of fast movements and perfect balance. "Who asks first?"

"Me." Hikaru sat up and grinned.

"Why you?" Dez crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly.

"I lost last time! Losers rights!"

Dez raised an eyebrow skeptically, "What about ladies first?"

Hikaru snorted, "Pfft, 'lady'? You hear her, Kaoru?" He laughed, leaning on the table before shifting nearer to Dez, as if trying to intimidate her. "You have got to be _kidding_. It's more like age before beauty!"

"Beauty?" Katie and Kaoru asked.

"Careful, Hikaru. You're beginning to sound like Milord." Kaoru teased. His brother grumbled, a reaction that he expected. What he _hadn't_ anticipated was for the girls to share a look and burst out laughing. Little did he know they had a long standing joke that 'Tamaki would be the kind of guy to where a speedo...' and that it was something that would crack them up no matter what. Kaoru tried to conceal his dumbfounded look, 'What's so funny?'

"Aren't you going to deal?" Hikaru groused, breaking through the giggle-fit.

Dez rolled her eyes, "Look in front of you." She picked up her own hand and started to sort the cards. She chuckled at the soft, 'oh,' that fell from his lips and snorted. "Nice one, Spock. You're really the pride of the Enterprise." She looked up from her cards to see the shocked faces. "What? I can't watch the original _Star Trek_?"

Katie burst out into giggles and leaned on Hikaru to keep herself mostly upright. "They're quieter than Mori-senpai!" She continued to laugh at her own private joke.

"You know Mori-senpai?" Kaoru looked puzzled as his brother asked with him. Maybe Hikaru might have told her a few stories, but otherwise than that, she wouldn't know much. The look on Hikaru's face confirmed that.

Dez piped up, quickly covering for her. "She learned about Mori from me. Takeshi Mori." The name was dangerously close to Takashi Morinozuka. She continued, trying to distract them. "He's an anime director. Katie likes a few of his works, and I've watched a lot of them...I read too much, I know." She sighed in relief when their looks stopped being so quizzical. "Go fish, Hikaru."

As the game neared the end, Hikaru glanced over at Katie, "How long have those muffins been in the oven?"

"HOLY CATFISH!" Katie vaulted herself over the table, totaling the card game in her progress to the kitchen. "THE MUFFINS!" She screamed as she pounded out of the room and yanked the door down to check them.

Dez gawked at the cards as they floated through the air and rested just about everywhere. "Aw...shucks." She started sorting through the meager pairs that remained in front of her. "Just...shit-tacular!"

Kaoru raised an eyebrow and watched the two on the floor trying to salvage their game while picking up the random cards everywhere. He counted out their score as they figured out who had won which pair. In the end, it was a draw. He could almost feel the cloud of doom that hung over the two betters.

"Dammit!" Dez groaned, her forehead hitting the table. "We both loose!" She heard Katie come back in and reassure everyone that the muffins were fine, and they needed to cool a little. She looked up to see a plate covered with blueberry muffins set in front of her.

"They both lost." Kaoru informed her, "So they both get punished." He did his best not to laugh aloud at his foolish brother and the attractive girl in front of him who couldn't resist teasing his sibling.

Dez sat up and ignored her eye when it twitched. "Can't..hug Katie... How will I fill my hug quota?"

Hikaru shrugged, "Sucks to be you! I can hug her all I want!" Hikaru pulled the blushing girl into his lap and nuzzled his face into her neck, laughing quietly when she squealed and giggled at his breath on her.

"Oh yeah?" Dez glared before hopping up and plopping onto the couch next to Kaoru. "Well you can't touch your brother!" She threw her arms around the startled teen next her. For once her face didn't react—which she secretly thanked any god she could think of for—and noticed how nice it felt to hug him. She was even more shocked when he wrapped his arms around her and returned the hug with a smile.

Hikaru retaliated with more goading. "Soon, Katie will be all mine." He rested his chin on Katie's shoulder.

"H-Hikaru-kun, p-please don't make th-this any worse!"

"Over my dead body!" Dez let go of Kaoru, only to be restrained by him, and forced to either sit on his lap or dislocate a shoulder. She voted for the former and sat carefully, her glare icy and hard.

"That can be arranged." Hikaru joked, a smirk sliding home.

"Stupid, rich bastard!" She wrestled away from Kaoru and threw the cards at him, missing Katie narrowly. "Have fun playing fifty-two pick-up!" Dez deadpanned when Katie leaned away from Hikaru to pick the cards up and start sorting them by suit and number. She removed her glasses so she could properly face-palm herself without hurting them. "Not _you_, Katie!" She groaned through her hand. It then hit her like a ton of bricks: she was still sitting on Kaoru! She began to stand and apologize when Kaoru put his hands on her shoulders.

"It's all right." He wrapped his arms around her waist, keeping her from getting away. He chuckled when she stuttered out something about the muffins and grabbed one for herself.

Katie giggled at Dez's predicament, thinking it was perfect for her, before leaning over to grab a muffin for both her and Hikaru. "Hey Dez..." Katie started as she passed a muffin over her shoulder. "What are we doing today?"

Dez perked up, "Oh! We're heading over to Owls Head. Their air show is today. If we leave early enough we'll have plenty of time to look at the rest of the transportation museum. They've got all sorts of cars and planes there. I actually won the drawing to learn how to co-pilot one of their planes the other year. I got to fly the Red Baron replica they have!" Dez grinned happily.

Katie crawled out of Hikaru's lap and bounced to her feet, "What are we waiting for?"

"We have to bring lunch with us." Dez's hands rested on Kaoru's. She didn't want to pull them away so she could stand, but she needed to. She felt his hands grip hers gently for a brief second before letting go. Warm hands rested on her waist and helped her stand, the body they were attached to quickly following.

Hikaru took the hand Katie had offered as she let out a soft, 'oh,' about Dez's comment and stood. "Can't we eat out?" For some reason, it bothered him to see Katie crestfallen like she was. 'She had really gotten caught up in that second,' he chuckled fondly to himself.

"No!" Dez stepped around the table and headed toward the kitchen, "Some of the best things happen around lunch time!" She grinned and started to skip backwards through the dining room and she quickly dug through the fridge. "What's for lunch...hmm...?" She muttered to herself. She glanced up when the others wandered in and asked her the question she had just inquired to herself. "Nothing complicated. Right now, Hikaru is the only one I trust not to hurt himself in the kitchen..."

"Really?" Hikaru's red-gold eyebrows raised in surprise. "Thanks!"

Dez smirked and continued, pulling out ingredients for making sandwiches. "...only because he wouldn't know who to use anything in here." She ducked a half-hearted swing and started to prepare their lunch, putting it in a cooler filled with mostly frozen bottles of water.

"Why I ought to..." He brandished a fist which Dez took in one hand, pressed a pressure point with the other, and in a matter of seconds she was behind him. He winced at the force that held his arm in a very uncomfortable position.

"Don't bother making more of a fool of yourself, Hikaru. It's a waste of air." She scoffed and let go, returning to fixing their meal. She picked up the shoulder strap for the cooler and rested it on her shoulder, keeping her hand under the strap to cushion it. "C'mon." She grabbed her keys on the way out.

Hikaru grumbled as Katie took his hand and lead him out of the door with a bright smile of her face. "That little _chibi _has it coming to her!"

Dez spun around suddenly, the cooler swinging and almost running into a very sensitive body part of Hikaru's. "I'm chibi, eh?" She grinned and spun back around, calling over her shoulder to him. "Chibix are adorable, so thanks!"

Hikaru looked thoroughly peeved that his insult was being pleasantly welcomed. "Dammit, you bitch!"

Dez put the cooler in the back of the jeep as he climbed in with Katie,laughing softly to herself. "A bitch is a dog, which is part of nature. I find nature quite beautiful, so thanks again for the compliment." She loved how this was grating on his nerves. He was too much fun to play with, but when she looked back at them as she left the drive, she could see that Hikaru was cuddling up with Katie and not minding too much at all anymore. She couldn't hide how she fumed on the inside at Hikaru and she dearly wanted to pull over and separate him from her Katie as soon as possible. She knew that he could feel her directing occasional glares by-way of the rear view mirror.

'Keep me from _temptation_, my ass, Hikaru Hitachiin!' Dez barely kept in her fury and want-to-kill-all-men-who-_DARE_-to-touch-Katie vibe. 'Katie needs to sit with you in the back? Hah! Funny shit, not!' She yanked the emergency brake up once she had parked and hopped out. "Hika-chan! Carry the cooler."

"She's picking on me..." Hikaru whined in a whisper to Katie who giggled and pet him on the head apologetically.

'Can't let him get away with that.' Dez nearly laughed out loud, sadistically. Time to make him sweat over nothing again. Her cold-silver glare snapped to him. "What..." she bit out, "did you just say?"

"Nothing!" Hikaru slung the cooler over his shoulder, "god!"

Dez walked over and smacked him in the chest, "...just in case." She stalked off, trying not to laugh at the outraged twin behind her, toward the front doors. She felt a hand slip into hers and smiled at Kaoru.

Hikaru hefted the cooler to a more comfortable position before holding his hand out to Katie who took it out of what seemed to be habit. The blush that showed up was expected, and probably habitual as well. "Next time," Hikaru began, leading Katie across the parking lot, "if I win, she can't touch _me_ for a day." He enjoyed the giggle that bubbled out of Katie's throat as she agreed, and grinned at her.

"You know," Kaoru let go of Dez's hand to jog a few paces ahead and open the door for her with a slight bow. "He only teases you like that because you react so well."

Dez smiled at him gently before taking the hand that ushered her inside. "It's 'cause she's my Katie."

"Not forever," he kindly chided.

Dez sighed gloomily, "I know."

Kaoru pulled her closer, his hand leaving hers so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders. "She'll be your friend, and probably that weird little 'adoptive' sister." He chuckled, hoping that the brunette's mood would cheer up a little.

Dez smiled ruefully, "Yeah. You too right?" Her cheeks tinged pink. 'Why do I blush so much?! Really! I _know_ I like him a lot, my face doesn't need to broad cast it!'

Kaoru paused. 'I can do this...I can, until we go back to Japan. When I'm there, it'll be over. There is no way we could last.' But when he smiled at her and said he would, the look on her face—the bright smile that shone in her eyes—made him wish it could last forever.

"Wait here." Dez pointed to a seat he could take while she went up to the front desk. She took out her wallet, only half-surprised by now that there was extra money in it compared to the last time she opened it. 'I bet Katie put it in my wallet from the boys. They're always paying for everything.' She grimaced for a moment, 'I need to find a new job...' She pulled out her family's membership card and began to talk to the man behind the counter.

A few minutes later, Dez returned, a stamp on her hand and three stickers on a piece of paper, one spot open where hers must have been. A bright orange circle was on her cheek, an image of an old biplane hovered over an even older car with the words, 'Owls Head Transportation Museum, Maine' around it. "Here, these are to prove that you've already paid the entry fee."

"But we didn't..." Katie started, sticking the orange sphere to her shirt. She glared down at it for a moment before pulling out a sharpie and drawing a big equals sign and a 'D' on it to make a smiley face.

"K-Katie?" Dez nearly laughed as the girl drew a colon and a bracket on Hikaru's sticker, making a rather smug smiley on his. "What are you doing to the stickers?" She watched as she moved onto Kaoru, drawing a kitty face with utmost care.

"I'm _fixing_ them." The sharpie came very close into view and Dez giggled as Katie drew a face on her sticker. "And you can't take the sticker off to look. Go look in something shiny." She happily capped her sharpie and stuck it behind her ear, nodding at her handiwork. Two equals signs with a three in the middle made the perfect pouty face to describe Dez. She was so caught up into it that she didn't even realize that Hikaru chuckled at Dez's new 'face'.

"Anyway," Dez rubbed the back of her neck, "I said I was all your legal guardian so we could use my family discount. It really helps that you all are under-aged."

"You what?!" Hikaru sputtered, "But you're not even eighteen yet! You're not _that_ much older than us!"

Dez backhanded him without so much as blinking. "Don't yell inside. It's rude. Let's go find a place to put the cooler and go explore everything inside before the real show begins!"

"Yes, Mother."

--

Dez continued to lead a 'tour' for the group, only snapping at Hikaru occasionally. She seemed to be in her element, surrounded by 'old things' as the redheads so eloquently put it. She noticed every time Katie got thoughtful looks when she stared at a car too long, when Hikaru made some snarky remarks, and even a few of those sweet looks that Kaoru gave her every so often. However, she failed to notice others following their group to listen to her talk about the vehicles and the history.

Hikaru smirked at the car that they had stopped in front of. He squeezed Katie's hand and turned to Dez, "Wow, Dez..."

Dez twitched before daring him with her stance to make fun of her, "what?" She could see the 'oh, no' looks on the faces of their two "witnesses".

"I didn't know we'd find the brother of your jeep here. I wonder if they had a heart-felt parting on the assembly line." The smirk quirked a little higher on one side, threatening to split his face already.

A vein spasmed at Dez's temple, he could see. 'This is great,' he thought as he continued. "I mean, seriously. But...it seems to me that this one is in _better_ condition." He could feel Katie's grip in his hand tighten, as if she was warning him of something. He ignored her, seeing Dez's eyes turn completely gray was making his day already. "There aren't any rust spots on this one, and no tears in the seats for that matter."

Kaoru nearly buried his face in his hands, or the crook of the small girl's neck. If he did that, maybe she would refrain from killing his brother too much. His thumb stroked the back of her hand soothingly, hoping that her imaginary hackles would drop and she would stop dripping killing intent.

Hikaru wasn't done. He could tell that Kaoru's presence calmed the brunette, and was doing so currently. "And I don't see..." he peered into the the back of the car, "any unidentified stains on the floor of this one." He could tell she was about to snap, but he couldn't help but say this last comment.

'Here it comes...' Katie thought, and she would bet half her manga that Kaoru was thinking the same thing.

"Maybe you could trade it in?" Hikaru didn't know what happened next. The last thing he knew was that Dez's face was pink with embarrassment and her eyes nearly silver, she had become that angry. The next thing he knew, he said hello to the informational plaque in front of him with his face and he was now nursing a swelling and pounding forehead.

Dez cleared her throat and continued her tour, completely ignoring any protest that Hikaru uttered when he thought that she was out of reach. As she reached the end, she saw the group of people who had been following. She paid them no mind until one of them walked up to her and thanked her for the 'tour'.

Dez twitched, "What...the...hell?" She looked up when Kaoru's arm wrapped around her shoulders, his hand rubbing her arm soothingly. He lead her outside, to where they had left their cooler. She smiled and looked around her at all the classic cars that people had brought to show or sell, when she spotted Katie and Hikaru swinging their clasped hands. "What are you doing?"

Hikaru grinned and stuck his tongue out at her, "Nyah...the twenty-four hours aren't up yet." He flashed his most winning smile when Katie blushed and confirmed it for the small brunette.

"Aw, dammit." Dez grumbled and as much as she wanted to drag Kaoru off somewhere else to be alone together, her stomach growled loudly and she sat down to eat instead.

Much later in the day had Dez roaming around the small gift shop area, looking a model airplane kits and all sorts of transportation based toys. She spotted a shelf of key chains and began picking a few up and playing with them before picking up a red VW bug and smiling at it. She pressed the button on its bottom and grinned devilishly when the headlights lit up. She crept over to where Katie and Hikaru stood looking at stuffed animals, and jumped in front of Hikaru, holding the key chain in his face. She turned the lights on and yelled, "EVIL BE GONE!"

"AHH!" Hikaru let go of Katie and covered his eyes, backing away and nearly into his brother, who stepped away, remembering the older twin's side of the bet.

"Yes!" Dez punched the air in celebration before going to hug Katie, but she's stopped by an 'invisible wall'. "No!" She scratched at it pitifully as Katie giggled at her, soundly enjoying her friend's minor torment. "Can't...hug Katie!!!" She glared at Hikaru as he laughed at her and half-threw herself at Kaoru, hugging him suddenly. "Pay back's a bitch." She mule kicked him in the knee.

Hikaru jumped out of the way just in time and kept down the urge to flip her off, "No, but you are." He ducked yet another lazy swing and took Katie's hand again and laughed when she made him skip out of the shop and to the jeep. They were heading home.

--

"Can we go down to the shore, Dezy?" Katie asked as she hopped over the side of the jeep and onto the cool grass. "It's not too late yet, and I really wanna go down before we head home the day after tomorrow."

"We're going home so soon?" the boys queried as they froze in unison.

"Yeah." Dez twirled her hair up into a bun and clipped it. "I _do_ have a job, and attendance is mandatory if I want to be paid." She grabbed the cooler and put it inside, listening to the teens follow her in. "The shore sounds fine. You'll be more careful this time, right Katie?"

"Yes, Dez." She sighed before heading up the back stairs to change clothes. She wasn't surprised, as they walked down to the shore, that she stumbled. She luckily didn't hurt herself since Hikaru hadn't let her hand go the entire trip down. She laughed when she heard Dez grouse about 'too much skin touching'.

Dez hopped up onto the rock and kicked off her shoes and stared off around the water with a fond smile. She watched as Katie wandered toward the front of the rock where there were a few tide pools and squat down to look at all the small fish. Kaoru watched before sitting next to Dez's feet, wondering what she was thinking about. "Hey Hikaru?" She asked, her voice sounding distant.

"Uh...yeah?" Hikaru froze in his progress to climb up onto the rock when a fistful of seaweed met his face, causing him to cough and spit. "Ugh!"

Dez laughed, pointing at him when some of the weed had stuck to his face and hung over his eyes. "It's Cousin It!" She laughed and stumbled back and hopped onto the other large rock behind her to gather more 'ammo'.

Katie shook her head and watched Kaoru scoot toward her as the the two _older_ teens continued to yell, screech, and toss soggy, slimy plants at each other. She glanced over at Kaoru before sitting next to him and humming to a periwinkle, "...hey Kaoru-kun?"

"Yeah Katie?" Kaoru watched the small creature poke out of its little shell home.

"Do you like Dez by any chance?" Katie's devious smile was hidden by her interest in the small snail-like creature.

Kaoru sighed, "Right about now...yeah." His soft smile dropped when he realized what he had confessed to Katie of all people. "Wait! You did _not_ just hear that." Kaoru swallowed, 'If Hikaru finds out...I...That I've...' he finally admitted it to himself. 'I've gotten attached.'

Katie giggled, "Pfft, whatever you say, Kaoru-kun."

Dez bounced over, spotting a large glob of seaweed to add to her 'Hikaru Mountain' and grinned at them both. "Hiya, guys! Wha'cha talkin' about?" She was so hyper at the moment that her speech was quick and messy.

"POLITICS!" Both teens said a little too loudly to not be suspicious.

"Oh..." She sounded slightly crestfallen, but perked up when Katie handed her a big handful of seaweed. "Okay!" She spun on her heel and ran after Hikaru, who had gotten a head start down the length of the beach.

Kaoru stared after the brunette in disbelief. Her sapphire eyes looked so _trusting_. "Did she really just believe that?"

"Yep!" Katie grinned foolishly. "Isn't that great?" She swatted at a mosquito that had been plotting to land on her arm. She looked up when Dez called Kaoru and her names, telling them (as she stood next to a buried Hikaru) that they needed to head back since the bugs were coming out. She helped Kaoru to his feet and hopped off of the rock.

"Please don't tell her," Kaoru begged.

"I didn't plan on it."

A sigh of relief interrupted the otherwise silent twilight, "Good."

"You will." Katie could almost feel his surprise in the look that shone in his gold eyes. "You will one day. You'll want her to know how you feel."

"How do you...?" Kaoru's eyes searched her face. Since when had she grown so pensive about this topic?

"Gut feeling." Katie headed toward the house, watching Dez skip uphill as Hikaru peeled pieces of wet weed off of him, throwing them at the dodging short girl. "Don't worry about it now, okay?" She jogged to catch up to Dez, surprising everyone when she didn't fall at all. She linked arms with Dez—and replied when Hikaru protested, using the bet as leverage, that _she_ was the one touching Dez—and started to skip with her.

"What was that about?" Dez squeezed Katie's arm with her own briefly to assimilate a hug.

"Oh, just surmising what the future might bring," was Katie's cryptic answer.

Dez chewed on her bottom lip nervously, "Katie...do you think they'll stay?" She sighed, "You know, keep on hanging out with us after the four days are up?"

"I can't say for sure Dez. But you know us, we'll get through. No one can really tell, right?"

"Yeah, you're right. I doubt they even know themselves." She stopped at the top of the hill and looked back over the scenery, smiling softly down at the twins who were still stripping seaweed from Hikaru. She chuckled at their joint effort. When they looked up at them, both girls beckoned them with big grins on their faces as if to say, 'Hurry up! Time's a-wasting!' And truly, as far as summers go, it was.

**NOTE:**_ DA NA NA NAH! Cryptic cliff-hanger-y foreseeing ending! Lawl. Not really. I thought it sounded like a nice ending for this chappie, even though we're not even half way through yet!_ _Doesn't it sound like the next chapter is going to be the end?_

_BTW, the faces that Katie drew for the characters on their stickers are as follows (to help you picture them xD) _=D_ for Katie (the ever happy face), _:] _Hikaru (the smug grin), =_3 _for Kaoru (the devilish kitty that he is), and _=3= _for Dez (haha, the pouty face)._

_**I heart you, my lovelies! PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER and tell us what you think! Kreative, Gatamigo and I LOVE hearing from you all!**_


	8. Drunken Nights and Flashing Lights

**WORD COUNT: **_7,367_

**NOTE: **_Heh...chapter eight. I hope you all love the crazy bits and the 'scary' bits. __I don't really have much to announce except...I'm dating the Beta Boy! ^_^ Sorry for taking so long, by the way. It's been exactly ten days though, so you can't hate me!  
_

**DISCLAIMER: **_We (Kreative and I) do not own Kaoru and Hikaru, slavery is completely wrong. But...in a bondage situation...xD *this disclaimer is PURELY STAR, Kreative and Gatamigo have NOTHING to do with it*_

**Beta'd by **_**Gatamigo**_

Chapter Eight: Drunken Nights and Flashing Lights

Dez poured apple cider for Katie first, before going on to serve the others. Hikaru shuffled the cards, trying to do the 'Bridge' to look more threatening than he usually did. Dez was ignoring him completely, which severely lowered his threat-factor.

Katie sipped her cider, then made a puckered face. "Dez?" She sniffed the drink, "How old is this stuff?"

"Dunno. Maybe it's a little old." She took Katie's cup from her and had a swig. "Ooh, we have hard cider!" Dez watched the younger girl stand and pick up her drawing supplies. "Are you sure you don't want to stay Katie?"

"I'm sure I don't want to drink _that_ stuff, Dezy. It's gross and smells weird." She raised her eyebrow at the smiling girl.

"Aw, shucks, girl!" She tipped the rest of the cup back before licking her lips. "You're gonna let me drink with two _guys_?" She snorted, "What if something happens? Aren't you gonna worry about me?" She grabbed at the sleeve of her bathrobe that she had thrown over her pajamas to keep her warm earlier.

Katie blushed and turned toward the kitchen, ready to go upstairs and to bed. She shook her head as she walked over, muttering, "I'm more worried about the guys." She ran her free hand through her hair. "Good night everyone. Have fun."

Dez was pouring second cups for herself and the two boys who had just finished theirs, "Will do, m'dear." She turned to the boys and took the cards. "How about a friendly game of war?" She grinned innocently, "I'll deal out all the card and we don't get to look at them. In unison we flip them over and whoever has the highest card gets the other two. The person with the lowest has to take a shot." Her grin become more feral. "If two people have the same card, and it's the highest card, there is a war. The two warring people lay down three cards face down and put an extra one face up. Whoever has the highest out of that wins all the cards. We'll do shots every time there's a war, and the loser has to do an extra."

--

Dez opened her eyes slowly, she had only been resting them for a moment. Hikaru had stumbled off to the bathroom not too long ago, and Kaoru hadn't stopped staring at her the entire time. It seemed to her that he had something on his mind. She scooted closer, leaning on his shoulder lightly. "Wha'cha thinkin', Ka-o-ru?" She said his name softly, distinguishing each syllable.

"Nothing." Kaoru shifted his eyes back to the cards in his hands. His head felt a little woozy from the hard cider...and what was taking Hikaru so long?

'Liar...' Dez thought with a lazy grin. She waited to see if he'd start talking, like Katie usually would if left alone long enough.

"I was just..." Kaoru looked up to see startlingly sharp sapphire eyes looking at him. He swallowed and continued, "I was just thinking about how you're so mean to Hikaru. Why is that, Dez?"

Dez blinked. He must be tipsy to call her without an honorific...or something to that effect. "Uh..." _There _was an intelligent start to her explanation. "Er, it's simple...really!"

"It is?" Kaoru leaned his head on hers and stared blankly at the wall. "Enlighten me then, because for the life of me I can't see it."

"H-Hika-chan and I are friends," she stuttered, nervous about how close they were. 'Is he even conscious about doing this? He must have had more to drink than I thought.' She heard a chuckle from the twin leaning on her, and could have sworn she detected a laugh in the direction Hikaru had left in.

Kaoru lifted his head and moved away, looking behind Dez at the door where he could see the silhouette of his brother. It couldn't hurt if he learned why Dez acted so hostile to him. "Friends?" He snickered and draped an arm around Dez's waist clumsily, to prevent her from seeing his brother, "You are kidding, right?"

"'m not." Dez smiled up at him, "Hika-chan and I really 're friends, even though it doesn't look like it in the slightest." She leaned back against him, enjoying the warmth.

"Then why d'you fight so much?" Kaoru had his own theory, but he was curious as to what Dez thought about this. She obviously knew what she was talking about.

"I have two different answers to that." She took a sip of her cider, "One: best friends fight often. I know you've heard that before."

Kaoru's brow furrowed, "Then what about you and Katie-chan?" He wondered why he remembered the suffix for Katie's name, but not Dez's. He ignored it for the time being. "You two hardly fight."

Dez chuckled, "We're sisters, that's all." She put her cup back down on the table, "Anyway, m'next reason is a lot more serious. The reason why Hika-chan and I fight is ob..." she paused, trying to remember the correct word. "ob...obvious! If you think about it." Dez ran a hand through her bangs absently to keep herself occupied so she wouldn't meet his eyes. "'m possessive of Katie because I think of her as a real sibling. 'm pretty damn sure both you and your brother know this, even if I've never said it 'loud. You two are possessive of each other, yeah?" She continued her explanation after he nodded. "Hika-chan is as possessive as a child who dunno how to share." She paused when she thought she heard someone huff, when nothing else happened she proceeded with her little spiel. "We clash and fight over her."

"I can see that, Dez," Kaoru sighed. "I thought you were going t' tell me something I _don't_ already know."

"'m not done yet," Dez's head tipped to the side playfully and she smirked. "That's just my surface observation. On the underneath, 'm guarding her from him because I know he's a common playboy." She didn't wait to give Kaoru room to protest. "He sees that 'n' naturally fights back. He wants to prove to me that he genuinely cares about her. _I_ already know this, even if he hasn't been able to realize it yet."

Kaoru nodded, 'She really knows more'n Hikaru gives her credit for...hell, she knows more'n _I_ give her credit for.' He waited for her to continue, it sounded like she wasn't finished yet.

"So, for all our arguin', on one level or another, is to protect her or prove to her. To put it in layman's terms, Katie is the reason why we're fighting." Dez sighed, 'This is gonna be hard, gettin' them together. I doubt that either of them could have understood what I meant.' She turned as Hikaru stumbled in, 'He must hard heard, and by the look on his face he completely missed the point I was trying to make, I bet.'

"I'm going outside for a bit, wanna join me?" Kaoru's question dangled in the air for either of them to take, but Hikaru shook his head and told him that the room was spinning enough already, thank you. Kaoru turned his gold eyes to Dez and she took the hand he offered.

When they stepped out into the cool night air, Dez tottered over to the railing. The slight wind was making her realize how much she had drunk. She grabbed the railing for reassurance and knew that Kaoru was feeling the same way. She waited for him to speak.

"Hikaru gave you a look like you were mental when we left. He heard everything." Kaoru leaned against the rail next to her, slouching so he could be level with her.

"Maybe I am, but I know he likes Katie." She pulled her robe around her a little tighter and braced her hands on the rail, hopping up and turning to sit on it with drunken-yet-practiced ease.

"I think so too." He told her, but on the inside he was completely unsure. 'How are we supposed to know? Yes, you two are so different from the girls back home,' he had to fight down a soft smile at that thought, 'but does that really make you as special as you should be? Dez...you deserve someone better.'He clasped his hands together and shoved his thoughts away, "Are you okay with it?"

Dez turned her face up to the sky, watching the half moon with a distant look. The breeze teased her hair as she began to smile, "Yeah...completely." Her hands tightened their grip that kept her from falling over the back of the deck, "I might act like I hate him—and I really don't want to loose my Katie—but if he is the one to make her truly happy..." She sighed, her words dying in her throat for a moment. "I'd hand her over to him with no regrets in a heartbeat." She looked back down and her heart leaped into her throat to see the glowing gold eyes so close to hers.

Kaoru's smile was unknowingly heartbreaking as something softened in his eyes. "It's too bad that Hikaru doesn't know about your soft and sweet side."

The girl blushed and leaned away slightly, suddenly uncomfortable with how close they were. "W-well, I'm too busy being a bitch to him for him to get a chance. He has to prove himself worthy of my Katie before he sees my nice-to-boys side."

Something twinged a little painfully in Kaoru's heart at those words. 'She's nice to me...but does that even make me special to her? She fights with Hikaru all the time, maybe she secretly likes him and doesn't want to get in Katie's way.' But it wasn't his feelings that were important right then. It was hers, hers and Hikaru's. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He shivered when the breeze got more insistent.

"Want some of my robe?" Dez asked innocently. "It's all thick and fleecy." She began to hop off the railing so she could take it off and drape it around their shoulders when his hand touched her shoulder, stopping the movement. "K-Kaoru?"

He stepped around one of her legs until he stood directly in front of her and slid his arms under the robe and around her waist. She felt so warm and soft, and she smelled like lilies and lemon grass again. He heard her gasp and felt her freeze in his embrace, but he was too warm to care. He nuzzled his nose into her neck and smiled against the smooth skin there when she giggled quietly.

When he had finally settled around her, she relaxed and pulled the robe around him. Tentatively, she hugged him back and rested her cheek against his temple. She closed her eyes and listened to him breathe.

'This...this is ridiculously comfortable.' He rested against her more. Her frame was so delicate and small compared to his. With a slight adjustment he stood closer, straighter and rested his cheek on the top of her head and pulled her into the circle of his arms. She was a perfect fit.

Dez's cheeks burned and she pushed away...and toppled into the flower bushes on the ground with a groan of pain. She stood shakily with the aid of a slightly swaggering yet concerned twin. They returned to the table where freshly poured drinks were waiting. It didn't take much time for them to get back into a different card game.

It was nearing midnight when Dez finished off the rest of the cider. Her robe was spilled at her hips, covering her thighs from the cold. She was currently in second place in their game of strip poker. To her left sat Hikaru, giggling to himself in only his boxers, and on her right was Kaoru, only missing his pants. She tugged her tank top up in the front as subtly as she could manage before turning to Hikaru, "H-hey, Hika-chan!" She suppressed a hiccup. She really wasn't _that_ drunk. "Do you like Katie?"

Fuzzy gold eyes failed to focus on her, "So what if I *hic* do?" He swayed even though he was only sitting.

"Ooh!" Kaoru smiled, "Hikaru 'n' Katie-chan...sittin' inna tree..." he hiccuped, "K-I...uh, some'in' some'in' I-N-G!" He leaned on Dez and grinned up at her, "Did you know you're cute?"

Dez blinked, "I am?" She smirked when he nodded eagerly, his head still on her shoulder. "Thanks. Time for bed." She grabbed his arm and hoisted him up, before offering a hand to Hikaru to assist him too. "C'mon, bed. Now." She made them walk before her on the stairs to she could rest a hand on their lower backs to make sure they didn't lean the wrong way.

She stopped them in the middle room, planning on making them both sleep there, so she'd be close if they needed help. She started to pull back the covers for Hikaru first when warm arms encircled her waist. She turned, surprised to see Kaoru hugging her. "Kaoru?"

Kaoru grinned at her and a hand found her cheek. He stroked it with his thumb briefly before pulling her toward him. His lips brushed hers gently, tasting of the hardened cider and something else she was to intoxicated to put words to. "Sweet dreams."

Dez stood frozen as Kaoru wandered off. Her brain had temporarily disengaged. When she came to her senses, Hikaru was falling asleep on his feet. She smirked evilly, "Idea..." She took his hand and kindly led him into the back room. She pulled the sheets down and helped him into bed. He instantly moved toward the warmth he sensed in Katie's body and curled up behind her.

Dez stumbled back into the middle bedroom and was too drunk and tired to even wonder where Kaoru had gotten to. She flopped onto the bed, not bothering to use the blankets. She curled her legs up tightly so her robe would cover everything and welcomed the inky blackness.

--

Sapphire eyes cracked open slowly, burning from the early morning sun. Ah, hangover. She should have known. There was a random throbbing somewhere behind her right eye bad enough that she wondered if it would pop out of the socket. She tried a few more times to open her eyes, and when she was finally successful she nearly screamed. 'What is Kaoru doing in the bed with me!?'

She froze when the warm arms around her pulled her closer. 'Oh jeez, this might be awkward.' She bit her bottom lip, 'I wonder if I can get up and out of bed without waking him...' She gently brushed her fingers over his arm, hoping the slight tickle might make him retreat. She began to scoot away when his arms tightened around her. She blushed and gave up, instead reaching up to brush a piece of hair out of his eyes. She leaned in and brushed her lips over his forehead.

"Dammit Hikaru..." she murmured as she smiled at Kaoru. "This is all your fault, and for once, I don't mind a bit." She curled up closer and hoped that he wouldn't wake for at least a little while longer.

"Ugh..." Kaoru's free hand moved to his forehead as it danced with his pulse. "I feel like I got hit by a truck."

"It's called a hangover," Dez muttered from within the circle of his arms.

Kaoru jumped when he heard the voice coming from somewhere under his chin. He jerked away from her, taking the blankets with him, "Wh-what the hell did we _do_ last night?" He landed on the floor and leaned against the wall, looking up at the girl kneeling on the bed in front of him.

"Well," Dez's mind flashed through the strip poker (where Hikaru had gotten a little too enthusiastic and tried to become a streaker), the older twin's 'confession' and the sloppy kiss Kaoru had planted on her lips. "Nothing really. Just some cards. So, don't worry."

Kaoru's eyes roamed over the girl on the bed who was only wearing a long tank top and her panties. The gold orbs snapped up to her face when he realized what he was doing (and how low cut a slept-in tank top can become). "O-oh, okay." He shifted uncomfortably and covered his nose and mouth with a hand. 'No nosebleed, please!' He was grateful that the blankets came with him and could easily cover his growing 'problem'.

Dez blushed when his hand moved to cover his mouth and she finally noticed what she was wearing. "I-I'm gonna go get dressed." Dez hurried over to the door that led to the back bedroom, tugging on the edge of her top as if it would help her look more decent. She could feel Kaoru's eyes follow her. She slammed the door open in her rush and woke Katie; Hikaru fell out of the bed in only his boxers.

"Dez!" Katie screamed, yanking the blankets up suddenly as she sat bolt upright. "What did you do?!"

Dez held onto the door for dear life, but still slid down to the floor slowly as laughter shook her body. "B-brought him t-t-t-to the wrong room." She wheezed, "Wh-while I was dr-drunk?" She laid on the cold floor and gasped for air, occasionally hitting the ground with a fist. She didn't know why she thought it so funny, but she did.

Hikaru grabbed an afghan from the foot of the bed and wrapped it around his waist with a huff. "Bitch." He waddled to the door as dignified as he could with the limited leg movement he had granted himself. He nearly kicked her, but the only result was having to waddle faster so he wouldn't fall over.

Dez slowly stood, still giggling sporadically, and shut the door behind him. "That was worth it..." She glanced at the clock before exploding with joy. "YES!" She glomped poor Katie into the mattress. "I CAN TOUCH KATIE AGAIN!"

"H-huh?!" Katie squawked as she fell onto the bed. Over Dez's shoulder she saw the boys throw the door open and freeze. She could only imagine what was going through their heads. Dez still hadn't added any clothes, and now she was straddling the younger girl on the bed. It only took a few seconds for their eyes to widen to impossible proportions and to get knocked back by the force of their bloody noses.

Dez perked up at the sound of prone bodies hitting the floor. "Ew...Hikaru's a pervert." She pulled Katie out of the bed and grabbed the clothes the younger girl had set out for them the night before, "C'mon Katie. We should change in the bathroom, at least there we can lock the door." She stepped carefully over the boys as they laid in a small growing pool of their blood.

Half a minute later the twins slowly sat up, each holding a hand to their face. Hikaru stood and offered his hand to Kaoru, but just as they began to think is was safe they heard Dez say: "I'll help you, since it's so tight in here." Their recovery was instantly gone.

--

"I'm _bored_." Hikaru groaned, flopping back onto the rug. He had just abandoned the labyrinth game he had been playing when he lost for the 23rd time.

"Me too." Kaoru flicked a marble at Hikaru's foot.

"Me three..." Katie laid on her stomach, staring at her sketchbook. It had rebelled and didn't give her any more paper. 'Just the perfect time to run out!'

"I'm not!" Dez walked in to the dining room and grinned at them, a spoon hanging from her nose and three more held between each finger. "Bet ya can't do this!"

Hikaru sat up, a gleam in his eye. "How much?"

Dez rolled her eyes and tossed a spoon at him. "Aren't you tired of _loosing_ yet? I don't want to bet anything."

"That's a shocker," Katie muttered as she took the spoon Dez handed her. She cleaned the spoon before artfully putting it on her nose. "Ta-da." She grinned and crossed her arms over her chest and initiated a staring contest with Hikaru as soon as his had his on too. The loser would either blink, or loose their spoon.

"It won't stay." Kaoru sighed, staring at his rebellious utensil.

Dez scooted over to sit before him and held her hands out for the spoon. "Let me help, please?" She took the spoon when he offered it and cleaned it with the hem of her shirt. She moved to kneel before him and gently touched his chin to adjust the tilt of his head. She was so fixated on what she was doing that she didn't notice the blush creeping onto his face.

Katie poked Hikaru and turned toward the other two, snickering quietly with him once he saw what she had pointed out.

"There." Dez smiled.

Kaoru looked at the spoon cross-eyed before moving away from Dez, finally realizing how close they had been. The spoon fell to the wooden floor with a clang. He cleared his throat and chuckled when Dez's fell off of hers when she reciprocated his movement.

Hikaru laughed at them, causing his own spoon to fall, "aw, damn."

"Yes!" Katie threw her arms up into the air, the spoon still firmly in its place. "I am the Spooning Champion!" She paused. "Wait, that sounds..."

Dez snorted. "That sounds so _bad_, Katie!"

"Dez!" Katie blushed and took the spoon from her face, "you pervert!" A flash of light vaulted through the house. Katie jumped and hid her face in Hikaru's shoulder. "What was that?!"

Dez stood and walked over the the deck door and opened it, sniffing the air. "I smell a thunderstorm." The air was heavy with static and she could smell the 'impending cleanliness' in the air.

"How do you _smell_ a thunderstorm?" Hikaru asked incredulously.

"Not important." Dez walked over to the bay window and grabbed her sandals. "Right now we need to worry about the severity and what we should do to stay safe, eh?" She pulled out her craptop and struggled with the connection to the internet for a moment, muttering, "damn dial-up." Her eyes widened as the page finally loaded. "We've got some work that needs to get done before the storm gets here."

"Work?" The twins wondered out loud.

"Yes, work. Hikaru, go out to the woodpile and do your best to fill up the crate next to the wood stove." She waved him away as she turned to Katie. "Go upstairs and close all shutters, windows, curtains and doors. If any windows break we don't want it to spread and damage more of the house. Unplug everything."

"R-right!" Katie ran out of the room.

"Kaoru-san, do the same thing as Katie downstairs. I'm going to go put the jeep in the barn." She touched his arm briefly as she rushed into the kitchen to grab her keys.

Hikaru filled the last space in the crate when he heard someone scream above him. He flinched and raced up the back steps. He tripped over the huddled form of Katie, her hands firmly over her ears and her eyes scrunched up tight.

"Katie!" He got up and pulled on her upper arms, forcing her into a sitting position and making her look at him. "What's wrong?" His voice shook with concern as panicking gold eyes traced her body, looking for blood or some other type of injury.

Katie sobbed into his chest, "I d-don't like being a-alone during th-th-thunderstorms!" She shivered as warm arms wrapped firmly around her and gentle fingers stroked her back.

"Hush..." He helped her stand. "I'm here now, alright? We can work together and get it done really fast." He noticed that she hadn't gotten very far before she freaked out.

They started down the main stairs when they heard a tree go down. Katie froze for a second before yelling, "DEZ!" as if she knew what had happened. She rocketed down the rest of the stairs and ran through the living room and dining room to see Dez come in. She was soaked and holding her right shoulder. A few small scratches speckled her cheek, and more were on her arm.

"Shit," Dez muttered, trying to look at the blood oozing from the top of her shoulder. She moved her fingers toward a large splinter that poked out of her skin. A warm hand enclosed over hers, soft yet warning.

"Don't. You'll make it worse." Kaoru pulled her toward the dining room and made her sit so he could look at her shoulder. He wasn't sure what he could do to help, but maybe Katie knew?

"What happened?!" Katie knelt by Dez's leg, her brownie eyes afloat with worry.

"A pine tree fell. It died a while back, and wasn't _that_ big or anything...the wind took it down and onto me. I barely jumped out of the way in time. I just got nicked by a branch."

"Where's the first aid kit?" Kaoru asked.

"Above the toilet in the downstairs bathroom." Dez replied automatically. It registered when he started to move away, "Wait! You know what to do?"

"No, but I'm sure you'll be able to walk me through it." Kaoru grinned at her, confident.

Dez sighed and smiled when Katie sat next to her and rested her head on the uninjured shoulder. "I love you, Dezy."

Dez rested her cheek on the top of Katie's head and her free hand touched Katie's cheek softly, "I love you too, Katie." She let her hand drop, and smiled when the younger girl held it in both of hers. "Sorry for sending you upstairs alone."

Hikaru quietly gawked, 'Since when is she so calm and nice? Must be the pain or something.'

Kaoru returned and took out the peroxide, listening to Katie's instructions and Dez's minor corrections before starting to dab at the cuts on her face. He paused at a splinter and took out a pair of tweezers, warning the silent girl as Katie squeezed her hand and distracted her with the story of what happened upstairs.

"Thank you, for helping her." Dez actually met Hikaru's eyes when she said that, and only her body flinched at the pain of the stinging liquid cleaning her wounds.

"N-no problem." It was weird for him to be thanked in such a calm tone, let alone by Dez.

Kaoru took advantage of the silent moment to rip open the sleeve of Dez's shirt.

"What are you _doing_?!" Dez jerked away from him, her eyes wide and terrified briefly. She felt Katie stroke her arm and calmed slowly. She just hadn't expected such a sudden and possibly violent movement from him.

"Going after the problem area." He lifted her bra strap with the tweezers and slowly moved it out of the way, grimacing when parts of it stuck to the skin. He chuckled when she hissed something along the lines of 'warn me next time!' and paused. "Ready to give me directions? I'm unsure on what to do."

"The wood is too old and dry to just pull it out. It has a barbed effect now." Dez leaned away and dug in the first aid box. "Aha." She pulled out a small roll of fabric and unrolled it on the table. "I knew Grump left his dissection kit in here." She picked up a scalpel. "You're going to have to carefully cut the skin between the surface and the wood."

"What?!" Kaoru swallowed, feeling sick to his stomach.

"You heard me." She moved away from Katie. "Hikaru, come here please? I need you to hold me, so it doesn't get worse...like, if I thrashed or something."

Katie walked to the other side by Kaoru and gently held the wrist that Hikaru wasn't gripping. She rested her hand on the back of Dez's head when the short girl put her head on the table.

"Do it and get it over with, please?" Dez sounded tired, almost as if she had given up and into the pain.

"This isn't safe, or sterile. We should go to the hospital."

"Kaoru-san!" Dez snapped, and instantly regretted it. "Kaoru-san..." Her voice was much softer then. "It's not that deep. It's only under a layer of skin. _Cut. It. Out._" Her teeth were grit tightly as the first hesitant cut was made.

When Kaoru was done, he grabbed the tweezers and ripped it out quickly, to get it over with.

Dez wrenched her hand away from Hikaru, backhanded him in the stomach and yelled, "FUCK!"

"The hell!" Hikaru spat, holding his aching stomach. "Why'd you hit me? Kaoru's the one inflicting pain!"

"Yeah," Dez scoffed, wincing as peroxide was gently dabbed on the open wound, "He's still got the tweezers, in case you are blind as well as stupid. He's your twin, take some damage for the team!"

Hikaru grumbled, but calmed down when Katie touched his arm, "Hikaru-kun, let's make a tent out of blankets and chairs. We could tell stories in it later." She grinned and took his hand. She led him away thinking, '...and not piss Dez off more.'

They started to clear away the stuff on the table so they could fold it up and move it out of the way. Katie paused thoughtfully, "Hey Dez...is it safe to leave the power on?" She blinked at the half-shocked, half-mad look that the older girl gave her and dragged Hikaru to the stairwell so she could turn it off.

"Oi!" Dez called after her, "Go raid the beds for sheets!" She sighed as the couple disappeared from sight, holding hands once more.

"She's getting forward." Kaoru commented absently. He pulled out a few butterfly bandages and carefully pulled the edges of the cut together.

"Nah," Dez winced and shook her head, "she's just getting used to him always being there. Not like it's permanent though."

"What do you mean?" He taped gauze over the wound and gently brushed his fingers over it, making sure it laid flat.

Dez suppressed a shiver at the light touch and turned to face him at the puzzlement she heard in his voice. "What would seriously keep you with us? Nothing. You're here because you wanted to kill some time. You'll leave after tomorrow and I know it. _You_ know it, Kaoru-san."

'Sh-she's really perceptive. Was all that cutesy stuff in the beginning fake...?' Kaoru stepped toward her, "Don't say that. We'll still see each other occasionally." Kaoru wondered as she smiled up at him and hugged him, if _she_ was the one who had been using _him_. "You do have our cell phone numbers."

Dez grinned, "Indeed I do, but when school starts up again..." She sighed and thought about the leap her cell phone bill would take if she tried calling him. "Japan is definitely long-distance calling."

"Oh, oh yeah..." Kaoru tried not to look crestfallen. 'I forgot we were going back.' He wondered what life was going to be like without the girls, but the more thought about it, the more he didn't like it. Soon, he dashed all those thoughts from his mind.

Padding feet heralded the return of Katie and Hikaru. Katie peeked over the lump of blankets and sheets in her arms and smiled cheerfully, "Let's make the fort!" She dropped the blankets and sent Dez off in search of clothespins. As Dez left, Katie began to show the boys how to arrange the chairs, and started on the 'Proper Way' to build a chair fort.

"Kids actually do this for fun?" Hikaru commented dryly as he pinned the sheets around an arm of the chair. He let out a very unmanly noise when Dez reached from inside the fort and grabbed his leg. She dragged him in and forced him to sit on a lump of pillows and blankets with Katie.

Katie bounced and leaned against him. "Who tells the first story?"

--

Dez hummed to herself, holding a stick with three marshmallows on it in front of the open door of the wood stove. She bounced slightly from her spot on the floor to the tune she made.

"Dez, where's the chocolate?" Katie stuck her head out of the pantry. She had been looking for the last ten minutes and still couldn't find them. She wanted to be roasting marshmallows with the others anyway.

"We don't have any. I brought chocolate graham crackers though." Dez tapped her lip with a finger. "I think they're on the top shelf." She poked her 'mallows to see if they were gooey enough yet.

"Dez..." Katie sighed, trying not to hit her herself in the face out of exasperation, "_why_ are they up that high, if you're so short." Really, Dez's logic sometimes was odd enough to make her head hurt.

"So I don't have to go and buy more because a certain _someone_," she glared at Hikaru, "gets into something he's not supposed to...again." She left out the part about it keeping her from temptation too. But really, who could resist chocolate graham crackers?

"Cheap bitch." Hikaru muttered, spearing a marshmallow. The move was violent and he jumped when he felt his stick brush his finger. He had nearly stabbed himself.

Dez turned abruptly and whacked him upside the head, not improving his day at all. "Rich bastard." She pulled a melting marshmallow off of her stick and squished it onto his face. "You need to learn some manners!"

"Look who's talking!" He retorted weakly while pulling the white goop off of his cheek. He tossed it into the fire and watched it hiss and sputter.

"_You_ are." Dez smirked. She could just barely keep herself from crossing her arms over her chest triumphantly as the older twin reacted.

Hikaru threw his hands up in the air, narrowly missing his twin. "I give up!"

"Good!" She smirked and ate her only remaining marshmallow, "'Cause I already won!"

"Who says!"

Dez leaned against Kaoru and smiled when he wrapped an arm around her carefully so to not hit her shoulder. "Me, obviously. I'm the only adult here. So you can't overrule me, either."

"You sure don't _act_ like an adult." He grumbled. "Wait! You're only seventeen! I'm seventeen too, you know!"

"Ah, yes. But you _recently_ turned seventeen. In seventeen days, I'll be eighteen. _Legal adult_." She smirked and ignored Katie's little singsong in the background of 'Dez likes younger men...and she can buy porn...' She rolled her eyes, "and even if I did you wouldn't listen to me in the first place. So why bother acting like something I'm not?"

Katie brought in the graham crackers and grabbed a paper towel and wet it to help Hikaru clean off his face. "So, what are you guys going to do for the rest of the summer?"

"Huh?" Hikaru took the towel from her and scrubbed vigorously. "What do you mean?"

"She _means_," Dez scoffed, "She was wondering what you'll be doing for the rest of your stay in America. Jeez, you're dense." She pulled away from Kaoru so she could turn and look at them both. She had a feeling that they had actually forgotten about going back. It didn't make sense to her, 'They _have_ to just be using us, right?'

"But I thought..."

"It's only for the four days, Hikaru." Kaoru reminded him, as he gave a look that clearly said between them, 'They probably have other plans for vacation that _don't_ include us.'

Hikaru subtly nodded to his brother, "Not sure," he answered Katie finally. "I'm sure we'll find something fun." He didn't see the saddened look that flashed over Katie's features, and thus remained oblivious to the pain he had caused.

Katie leaned on Dez, who was nearly asleep, and sighed. "Dezy..." She murmured, "You should really go to bed. You have to work tomorrow, and you have to take us all home too."

"But," she yawned and snuggled into Katie's arms, "I have to pack."

Katie gently pushed Dez away so she could stand and drag the small girl to her feet. "I'll do it for you, c'mon." She glanced back at the guys still sitting on the kitchen floor. "You should pack too, we have to clean up the house before we leave." She left, half-carrying Dez.

Kaoru looked at his mirror image. "What are we going to do without them for the rest of the summer?" These four days had passed by quick, and it was so much fun. He knew that they were supposed to be 'just toys' but now...now they were friends. To him, at least. Where could they find such a startlingly suiting friendship like the one they now had?

Hikaru snorted disdainfully, "We'll figure out something. At least I won't be abused by that vertically challenged psycho anymore." Hikaru wasn't going to regret leaving Dez behind. She had some weird magic or something around her that made Kaoru easily forget what they were, what they _had_ to be.

"But you won't have Katie either." Kaoru pointed out.

"Mm." Hikaru shrugged as if loosing her mattered nothing to him. "I guess so." He shivered at something cold that slid down his back. "I think I almost got attached to them."

"Yeah..." Kaoru stood and turned from his brother to hide the gentle and fond smile curling his lips, "They have that ability, don't they?" He started toward their room, for the last night of their visit. 'But really...what _are_ we going to do? If we get really bored, we could always return to B&N. I bet we'll find them there.'

--

A car door slammed harshly, the sharp sound jolting the twins from their sleep. Hikaru rubbed his eye sleepily as Kaoru sat up and leaned toward the window to spot Dez heading back toward the house. He rested his elbows on his knees. "We slept in." He glanced at the clock and winced. "It's a good thing we packed last night."

Hikaru groaned and rolled over. "I don't want to leave," he whined. He froze. He meant that he didn't want to get up, right? Not that he didn't want to leave. He could be fine. 'I think.'

Kaoru smirked and shoved his blankets off, "What was that, brother?"

Hikaru pulled the pillow over his head. "Nothing!" He threw the pillow at his chuckling brother when someone knocked on the door lightly. "Yeah?"

"It's Katie. We need to leave kinda really soon." She sounded unsure and nervous. She shuffled anxiously on the other side of the door. Had she woken them up? She could have sworn she heard talking when she went through the upstairs to tidy up. She thought they had been already up. "Are you guys packed?"

Hikaru stood and walked over to the door. He opened it, "I'll bring it down."

Katie's eyes ran over him once, quickly, before letting a blush set in. "O-okay..." She turned around abruptly and ran to the stairs, hurrying down them as Dez called for her.

Hikaru looked down at himself, wondering what could have chased her off, and noticed that he had answered the door in only boxers. 'How many days in a row is she going to see me in only my underwear?'

"Nice one, Hikaru." Kaoru chuckled as he tugged pants on.

A minute later the door was abused once more as Dez wrenched it open. Her eyes are only faintly blue, with a stormy gray overpowering most of the iris. The whites of her eyes were slightly pink, and both boys freeze.

Hikaru returned to tying his shoe, "_Told_ you she would be noisy." He didn't meet anyone's eyes as he secretly wondered what had happened _now_ to get her so pissed.

"Shut. Up." Dez hissed between her teeth. "You're going to make me late for work. Hurry up." She paused as she met Kaoru's concerned eyes, which were about the only body part moving. The rest of his was half-frozen in the motion of starting to put a shirt on. She swallowed, "s-sorry..." she spun on her heel and dashed out.

"Aww, Kaoru!" Hikaru simpered, "Your little _fangirl _is going to miss you."

Kaoru yanked his shirt on, slipped his feet into a pair of sandals and scooped up his bag. "Shut up." He hurried out of the room before he had a chance to blush, praying that his ears weren't turning red.

Katie ushered the boys into the back as Dez locked up the house. The short girl checked all of the luggage in the back to make sure it wouldn't fall out while she drove and hopped in, passing Katie her iPod. "Something bouncy?"

"Only if you keep to the speed limit." Katie grinned cheekily as she looked through her library. She wondered why they were paired this way. She hadn't been in the front seat since they came down. She stared at the clouds as they passed slowly, and occasionally turned around to talk to the twins about random things they passed.

Dez checked the clock on the dash as they entered Augusta. "Shit." She bounced her head off of the steering wheel at a red light. "I'm gonna be unable to drop you guys anywhere. Katie, do you mind staying at B&N until my shift is over? It's only six hours. There's plenty of books to read."

"Don't worry about it Dez. If Mom calls she won't mind picking me up here." She smiled at Dez, "There are some books I saw last time I was here that I didn't have a chance to get." She changed the song, 'Like that Ouran one.'

When Dez had parked and pulled the key out of the ignition she hopped out. "See you whenever," she called over her shoulder with a sharp wave. She couldn't look at them, not now. If she did she would break down, or beg them to stay.

Katie climbed out and pulled her seat forward. "She doesn't like goodbyes." She explained apologetically. She shook Kaoru's hand and blushed when Hikaru pulled her into a goodbye hug. All words were short and awkward. Katie grabbed her small bag with her iPod and sketchbook and waved as she walked away.

'Is this really goodbye?' The boys wondered, not knowing that Katie had just muttered the same question to herself. They turned away from the bookstore, unsure if they'd ever see the two girls again.


	9. Omake Theater Finally Here!

**WORD COUNT: **_insert # here_

**NOTE: **_These don't take place in any sort of order, nor do they even happen in the story, but some do. If they do, there will be a little note in front of them in italics. Mostly, these are little pieces that we've thought up that A) didn't fit, B) the characters were out of character (but funnily so), C) were complete and utter crack or D) were so randomly random with all sorts of randomness. I hope you enjoy the first of a few (?) OMAKE THEATRES!_

_I posted this up because I felt so bad that I've been out of the mood to write at all (it's a good thing I wrote this at the beginning of February). I'm struggling through chapter nine at the moment...and sooner rather than later the posting will pick up a little, mostly because I'll have to write the chapters in our notebooks...a sign of the end!! WOOT_

**DISCLAIMER: **_We (Kreative and I) do not own Kaoru and Hikaru, but we do own these little crack-isodes._

BONUS CHAPTER: OMAKE THEATRE

_Taking place during Chapter Eight (between the girls getting dressed and hanging spoons off of their noses): _

Katie fumbled around with the shiny and somewhat expensive piece of machinery in her hands. It had been left all by its lonesome on the dining room table, so why not play with it? No one was around really. Hikaru had gone back to sleep because of his hangover and Dez had left with Kaoru to buy a few things they needed for meals the next day.

She held down the small button on the top and it chimed, turning on. She pressed a small green button with the 'play' symbol on it to view the pictures Dez had already taken, but the card was blank. 'Dammit, Dez took her memory card out of her camera! Now I can't delete those embarrassing pictures she took of me yesterday morning!'

Hikaru shuffled in, shirtless and rubbing his eye. "Why are you playing with Dez's camera?" He pulled a chair out and plopped onto it, putting his feet up onto a spare chair near by. He had circles under his eyes, but he didn't move his gaze from the guilty girl with the camera.

"I was just wondering what the noise was...remember when she took all those pictures yesterday?" Katie blushed a little and looked at the camera once again. "I was wondering how she made such weird noises."

"What weird noises?" Hikaru looked puzzled. He had slept through the entire thing. He remembered the camera part in general, but he hadn't heard Dez taking pictures.

"Well, let's experiment." Katie lifted the camera and took a picture of Hikaru. It wasn't a normal click that sounded, but a quack, as if from a duck. Katie nearly dropped the camera, laughing.

"How did she do that?" Hikaru stared at the object in Katie's hands. He was wide-eyed...until his brain started working a the possibilities. He held his hand out and took the camera from Katie and started to tinker with it, until he found out what he needed. "Do you know the password for Dez's craptop?"

"Yeah...why?" Katie looked puzzled. Dez gave her an account to use whenever she wanted, and if had all of the same information that Dez's did, except for her banking folders.

"There's a program I'd like to use really quickly." Hikaru grabbed the craptop from where it sat in the table and turned it on, waiting for it to boot up. Only ten minutes later he was done and he was helping Katie hide her guilty looking face by teaching her how to play a game on his PSP. They were picture perfect for when Dez and Kaoru came back. 'I wonder how long,' Hikaru thought to himself, 'it'll take Dez to find out that her camera doesn't quack...but shouts 'cheap bitch'!'

**A/N: I have a sound effect on my cell phone so it quacks when I take a picture. It's so funny. I thought it would be interesting if Dez hacked her own camera so it would make that noise as well...but now she'll have a surprise! =D How she reacts to it? I'll leave that up to you. If you want to message me through FF(dot)net to tell me your idea, then please do!**


	10. Hospital Scenes and Vending Machines

**WORD COUNT: **_5,702_

**NOTE: **_So, um...yeah. This is an odd little chapter. It was funny to write. I've been in quite a slump since before vacation (February, not April...god, I'm terrible xD!), and so it's really hard to write this right now. I'm also trying to blackmail Kreative into finishing up Dez's birthday so I can get the notebooks and (maybe take more than 7-10 days to put out a chapter) finish the next 5-10 chapters that will be the rest of this story. (Yeah...we foresee the ending.)_

**_SO SORRY IT TOOK THIS LONG! Forgive me?_**_ I've been doing lots of get-into-college stuff, so RL has been busy and tiring. Once I'm settled down in RI it'll be easier. (And just because Kreative and I will be separated doesn't mean we won't finish this. The sequel will be easy to do over long distance, so please don't worry.)_

_Oh! And to reply to a reviewer that didn't have a login, thanks for reviewing, _**_Melody Kross _**_and yeah, we like the rhyming chapter titles too. They look simple huh? They really aren't. -_-'_

**DISCLAIMER: **_We (Kreative and I) do not own Kaoru and Hikaru...yet. I'm planning a big heist though, if anyone wants to kidnap them with us?_

**Beta'd by _Gatamigo_**

Chapter Nine: Hospital Scenes and Vending Machines

The day after they had gotten back, Katie sat in B&N. She was terribly bored already and had hitched a ride with her mom early that morning to meet Dez at the store. She had already been waiting for a good five hours, but there still wasn't any sign of her friend. Katie sighed. She hoped that the small girl would show up, because there was only so many books she could read until her feet got antsy.

The next day was more like the one before. Sitting in the comfy armchairs and waiting for a Dez that hadn't shown the day before, she mused to herself, 'Waiting for Dez: take two.' She pulled out her sketch book and started working on her doodle page which was currently becoming covered with all sorts of little creatures seen on popular children's anime. Her mind occasionally wandered off and she slapped herself back to reality after realizing she was daydreaming about Hikaru, again.

By the third day of no-show Dez, Katie's inner 'Waiting for Dez: take three' sounded more panicky than she would have liked. It wasn't like Dez to not be at work. She desperately _needed_ this money to live on, and her little four-day vacation had probably set her back some, regardless of the cash that the boys had her slip into the older girl's wallet when she wasn't around. She could barely focus on her sketchbook or any reading material she had previously found interesting. Any thoughts of the boys were associated with Dez. Her concern followed her like a drenched and homeless puppy.

As Katie muttered, 'Take four,' her worry nearly tripped her up as she feigned a carefree teen life around her family. She got to B&N as soon as she could, pacing in front of the doors until the store opened. She dashed to the back once let in and hunted through all of the shelves for her methodically. Eventually she started asking the girl's co-workers, but none of them had seen her since the day she had returned from her mini-vacation. One mentioned the manager might know, but he wasn't going to be in until the next day. Katie sighed and called her mom to pick her up. She wouldn't be getting answers until tomorrow it seemed.

Katie ran from her usual seat in the back of the store at nine-thirty, the time when the manager would be coming in. She turned a corner a little sharper than she would have liked since her shoe slipped on the floor. She squeaked and ran into someone. "I'm so so—"

Hikaru Hitachiin smiled down at her, "Hey, long time no see." He looked just as he did the last time she saw him, although probably a little less bruised.

Kaoru wasn't far behind and waved slightly, "Hi Katie-chan." He looked around, a small frown twisting his lips. "Where's Dez-kun?" His gold eyes met hers and he could instantly feel that something was wrong. Katie looked to be on the verge of tears.

"I don't know!" Katie clutched Hikaru's shirt. "She hasn't shown up for the past four days." Katie pulled back from Hikaru and looked at both of the boys in turn, hoping that they'd be calm enough at the moment to help her figure out what to do.

Kaoru's gold eyes filled with worry, "Why don't we go find her manager and ask?"

"That's what I was going to do!" Katie snapped as she turned toward the front of the store and jogged off, hoping to find Dez's employer. She was relieved when she did find him and asked him as many questions as she could think of as to where Dez was. "The hospital?!"

"For what?" Kaoru nearly stumbled over his English as he begged an answer from the small girl's boss.

"She fell and couldn't get up on her own. I don't know the professional diagnosis." The manager cleared his throat uneasily. "She fell off of the ladder in the back room onto the cement floor and I called an ambulance. She kept saying that she was fine, and refused to go to the local hospital. I couldn't really understand her protests. She could barely walk on her own."

Kaoru felt like someone had punched him in the face. Dez had been in serious pain, she had refused to go to the hospital too. If something was that wrong and she didn't want to go to that specific hospital, it must have meant something. 'And they _forced_ her to go too. I wonder why she didn't want to go there?'

"Can you give us something a little more detailed as to where she went?" Katie inquired as she subconsciously put a hand on Kaoru's arm, as if she could sense his outrage or something.

"Sorry," he did sound sincere, "I told you everything I know."

"Thanks," Hikaru didn't sound grateful as he grabbed Katie's hand. "Let's go." He nearly scoffed at the puzzlement in Katie's brownie eyes. "We're going to find her ourselves!" He dragged her out the door to where their bikes waited, knowing full well that Kaoru wasn't far behind. 'Dez is important to Katie, and I hate seeing her sad. Even though that little spitfire hasn't done nearly anything nice for me, I'll still look for her. I'm not a bastard like she says!'

Katie hugged Hikaru tightly as she fought back worried tears, giving him directions to the Augusta General Medical Hospital. It was the best place to start after all. There was a chance that she had actually gone there, or if she had been there before for the same problem.

--

Katie stumbled off of the bike and ran ahead of the twins, nearly loosing them on the first floor as she navigated herself to the front desk. She asked the secretary on duty to look and see if Dez had been admitted in the last five days since she had forgot to ask when the girl had fallen. After a few minutes-that-felt-like-centuries, there was a negative answer.

Katie did her best to control the pitch and volume of her voice, "N-not here?" It still sounded shrill to her. Where was Dez? What happened to her? Katie was on the verge of crying or screaming or something energy consuming and hopefully non-violent. Warm hands rested on her shoulders, and she felt an equally warm body against her back. Hikaru.

"Where is she?" Kaoru asked, surprising himself with how calm he sounded. He glanced over at Katie, who was now half-leaning on his twin and felt a small happiness in his chest. 'They can comfort each other in a time like this.' Happy that his brother subconsciously thought of Katie as something more than a toy, he turned his attention to the woman behind the counter who clicked away on her keyboard.

"She was..." she scrolled down the screen. "Here for about half an hour. She protested to being treated here and transferred to Lisbon Family Practice, where her doctors are. That is all I can tell you."

"Where's that?" Hikaru asked. He had never heard of that place before, but the fact didn't surprise him. He knew Japan, not Maine.

"Lisbon." The secretary deadpanned. Who _were_ these people?

"...Where?"

Katie put a hand on one of his, "Thank you." She nodded to the secretary and turned, expecting the boys to follow her. She gave a weak smile to herself secretly as she left the building and headed back to the bikes. "Let's go get a map and find Dez." She wondered where the closest convenience store was as they leaned against the bikes to talk.

"Why did she get transferred?" Kaoru speculated mostly to himself but waited for an answer from one of the others in case they had any insight on the matter.

Katie looked thoughtful as she hopped onto Hikaru's motorcycle behind him and directed them toward a Rite Aid. "I think she said once that all Augusta doctors were idiots." She tapped her bottom lip with her index finger, doing her best not to laugh.

Hikaru rolled his eyes, knowing that Kaoru would probably have done the same thing if he could hear what Katie said. "That would explain things...so how do we get there?" He glanced back at her, but the helmet got in the way. He wasn't even completely sure that she had heard him. After a minute, he decided he would repeat himself after they had parked at the convenience store/pharmacy.

Kaoru's eyes darkened when he heard Hikaru's question. He leaned against the seat of his bike and almost hesitantly opened his mouth. "Would her parents know?"

"I don't know." Katie shrugged. "I can't even remember where she used to live...so we couldn't go ask." She reached for Hikaru's hand out of instinct and looked up at him with a faint smile when he squeezed her hand in reassurance. They ambled inside to get the map and soon Katie gave the directions.

--

At the Practice, they were once again at a dead end. A middle aged doctor walked by—and upon hearing Dez's name—paused and told them to look at the Central Maine Medical Center, saying: 'That's where she would have been sent for a surgery or something similar.' The words were helpful, but worrisome.

At CMMC they finally got what they wanted to hear. The receptionist looked up from her computer, "Are you a relative?"

"W-well, no." Katie scuffed the floor with her foot. "But I-I'm the closest she's got right now! Please, let me go in and see Dez? I gotta see if she's okay!"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you in—I just don't have that kind of clearance." Bright and obviously fake nails clicked irritably on the desk she sat at. "Besides, it's against our policy if you aren't a direct rela—"

"What are you doing here?" Dez interrupted, looking up at an emotional wreck of a Katie and a pair of redheaded twins contemplating murder. Her voice was softer than usual, as if her body had little energy left.

Katie and the twins spun around to see Dez leaning on a pair of wooden crutches, a cheerfully red bandanna holding back her curls and severely contrasting to her once-tan skin. A nurse rested her hands on the small girl's shoulders, when she wavered slightly. Katie rushed over and hugged Dez to her. "Jeez, Dez! Tell me next time!" Tears began to spill down her cheeks as she shook with relief. "I w-was so worried!"

Dez smiled and hugged her back without dropping the crutches, but eventually she tried to pull the girl off, "K-Katie! ...need air!"

Katie let go suddenly, her eyes wide. She pouted slightly when she saw that Dez was—mostly—joking. She reached to put her arm around Dez's shoulders to balance her as she looked around to find out where they should go. They were easily attracting attention, and soon they might be in the way. Dez nodded in the direction of a hallway and they started off once Katie had back away enough that Dez could start gimping along.

"Sorry I didn't tell you guys."

Hikaru sped up when they got to her room and opened the door for everyone. Dez glared at her hospital bed as it came within reach. She treated it as if were a challenge she had to face. Kaoru leaned down and scooped her up effortlessly and sat down on the bed, cradling her in his lap. He laid the crutches against the wall and chuckled at the bright blush that surged across the small girl's face. She looked so surprised that Hikaru started to laugh. She reached out to hit him but suddenly stopped. Her hands flew to near her left hip and she bent over.

"Are you okay?!" Katie jumped to her, panicking.

Dez glared, her eyes a 'healthy' storm gray. Her lips curled back in a growl. "I hurt..." Obviously, she blamed Hikaru for her pain.

Kaoru gently pulled her close and rested his chin on the top of her head, "Are you going to tell us what happened?" He prayed that the question would distract her and keep her from maiming his brother so soon.

Dez sighed, as if she really didn't want to be telling them what had happened, but she told them anyway. "I fell. And bounced. And landed." She paused, hoping that she didn't need to have to go into gory details. "It was about two days ago, my last day at B&N." She waited for her joblessness to sink in. "My pants got caught on a stray nail and I fell, bounced off the rungs and landed on the cement. I strained the triceps in my right arm, got a hairline fracture in my left hip and re-sprained my knee."

"You mean the knee you sprained...in the high school cafeteria...while running to see your boyfriend of _one day_?" Katie smirked as the brunette colored vibrantly. She could remember the day perfectly as she had bore witness to the entire thing. The very surprised look on Dez's face as her knee gave way was hysterical as soon as all the worry and pain was out of the equation.

"Graceful." Hikaru jibed sarcastically. He didn't bother holding in his laughter.

"Ouch..." Kaoru commented sympathetically. He didn't know how much her injuries hurt, but he knew from slipping money into Dez's wallet that this kind of development wasn't a good one.

Dez sighed and rubbed her temples, nodding slowly, "yeah." She would have to go through what she had left and figure if she'd be able to keep her little apartment or not after paying hospital bills.

"So what are you going to do now?" Kaoru spoke soft, unsure if he wanted Dez to know that he was concerned for her—of how concerned he actually was. Relieved that Hikaru didn't give him a look, he rubbed the small girl's arm as she contemplated her answer.

In the end, Dez shrugged, "I get discharged in a few days only because there wasn't anyone to contact about my condition." She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. "Now that you guys are here, I'm hoping to convince them to let me go. Probably tomorrow." She held her hands up slightly in a gesture that spoke of her uncertainty.

"Cool!" Katie bounced, a cheerful grin bisecting her face. Her brownie eyes glittered excitedly as she asked, "Can we go to the cottage again?"

"I don't see why not." Dez smiled. "We seem to find plenty of stuff to do down there." She paused, trying to think of other things that they could do. "I've been reading magazines—since there isn't anything else to do—about touristy spots. Maybe we can go to Funtown sometime soon."

"Dezy..." Katie raised her eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest disapprovingly, "can you even _do_ Funtown with your impediments?"

The happy look on the small girl's face fell, "oh, yeah." She pouted, "damn."

"We can go when you're better." Kaoru shrugged as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"But that won't be for a while!" She didn't voice that she was worried that because of her injury they just might leave now and she'd never see them again. She had already assumed that was the case when they had returned to Augusta, and now here was a second chance. It was a second chance that was just about to be taken away.

Hikaru scoffed irately, "Then we'll have to stick around until you're all healed." He couldn't believe why they hadn't thought of that. Weren't they the smart ones? Two pairs of eyes—one brownie, the other sapphire—locked on him in half-surprised disbelief.

"You mean..." Katie's voice failed her and she could only gawk. She turned to one twin, then the other and back again, and again, and again. Sooner or later she'd be giving herself whiplash.

Kaoru smiled at Dez, "You can't get rid of us that easily."

The small brunette's eyes widened impossibly and she threw her arms around Kaoru's neck enthusiastically. "Thank you!" Her arm protested at the sudden movement, but she ignored it. She reminded herself of the painkillers she had just taken. If she could bare it for a good twenty more minutes, she'd soon be in a drugged nirvana.

The redheaded teen blushed faintly, "No problem." He wrapped his arms around her nervously, long arms and large hands curled around the delicate frame. She fit into his arms perfectly, and he couldn't make himself let go.

The older twin smirked smugly at his brother, who glared at him in return, before taking Katie's hand, "I'm hungry. Let's go find a vending machine." He pulled her after him and could barely keep himself from laughing at the sputtering girl behind him and the invisible daggers he could feel Kaoru throwing at him with molten gold eyes.

"Huh? B-but, Hikaru-kun!" Katie pulled back against his hand protestingly, yet half-heartedly. She didn't want to be dragged, but leaving the two alone might be a good thing. She was just getting some sort of odd feeling, watching the two who so obviously only had eyes for each other.

Hikaru hauled her out the door, ignoring her dissent, and shut it behind them. He walked down the hall a ways before Katie finally wrenched her hand away from him. "Hi-Hikaru-kun! What a-are you doing?"

Hikaru raised an eyebrow at Katie and stepped closer to her conspiratorially. "Giving them some _alone_ time," he stressed that one word, a devilish smile crawling over his lips. 'Not really...' He chuckled to himself, 'why would they need _that_ if she's only a toy?'

"A-alone time?" Katie stuttered, as if she was unsure what Hikaru meant. Her mind raced at all the possibilities of what could be happening behind closed doors. Her cheeks lit up briefly, and she was glad that he had turned away.

Hikaru rolled his eyes, unsurprised at how thick Katie was, "You don't live with Kaoru, so you obviously don't know how much he sulked about being away from that little spitfire."

"He sulked?" Katie marveled, hoping that maybe Kaoru wasn't as dense to his feelings as the girls had thought. She couldn't help but think back to their short conversations whenever they left the boys to the own devices during their time in Cushing.

Hikaru offered his hand gentlemanly, waiting for her to accept it. He subconsciously pleaded for her to take it, "Come with me and I'll tell you more."

Katie took his hand without sparing a second and followed him to the waiting room/lobby where there was a vending machine humming its artificial contentment. "So, what is there to tell?"

Golden eyes sparkled mischievously as he grinned at her. He inhaled slowly—as if he were just about to divulge the biggest secret ever—and leaned close. "I think Kaoru might like Dez." He felt some remorse for lying to her, but if he wanted to play both girls into their favor, he'd better stick to the one that hung onto nearly everything he said. Really, he didn't want to have to get another set of toys, not when these two were so entertaining.

"Oh really?" Katie feigned interest. She felt horrible for playing him like that, but she couldn't help it. She knew deep down that Hikaru probably didn't approve of Dez being with his younger brother. 'Duh Hikaru-kun, I already knew that. It's almost plain as day by now.'

"Yeah, so that is why we left." He grinned and leaned back against the wall, accidentally pulling the blushing girl with him, "You know she can be as shy as you when Kaoru's around." He poked her nose in an almost fond way.

Katie scrunched her button nose a few times as if it itched and her mouth curled on one side as she replied sarcastically, "Thanks..."

"You know what I mean." He waved at her, dismissing her half-heart thanks. "I just wanted..." It hit him what his gesture might mean to someone _not_ in his head and he blushed. Since when did he do nice things for people who weren't his brother? He kept himself from shaking his head, "er, you know."

"You were being _nice_." Katie emphasized the last word as she smiled brightly and dug into her pocket for a couple dollars. She figure that Hikaru's bills would be too much for the poor machine next to them. She knew that he'd end up finding some way to give the money back to her one day. The twins were oddly considerate like that.

"Um...right." His ears reddened.

"So," she pulled back, dragged him from the wall and nodded to the machine, "what do you want?"

Hikaru looked over everything in the machine. All of them were brightly colored (for the most part) and all of them foreign. "What are those?"

Katie spent the next ten minutes explaining various snacks in the machine for Hikaru. She laughed and smiled, shocked with how funny the boy in front of her could be about simple things like chocolate and snack packaging. She watched him shift from one foot to the other as he made a 'hard' decision with a sweet smile on her lips.

Hikaru popped up from where he had been squatted to look at her eagerly. "Can we buy a few things?" He had seen so many that he wanted to try, and he wanted Kaoru to have a chance to try some too so he had narrowed them all down to ones that he could easily share.

"Sure. Which ones do you want to try?" She stood next to him and punched in numbers and put in all sorts of change and a few bills. As one of the snacks fell to the miniature conveyor belt she glanced up at him, "Do you want something to drink too?"

Hikaru leaned down to grab the last thing out of the vending machine and pursed his lips, "You pick."

Katie blushed pleasantly, pleased that he was thinking of others. 'It's almost as if I think of him as a little kid.' She chuckled to herself at the silly little idea and considered the bottles in front of her.

--

Dez pulled back when the door shut behind Hikaru. She blushed at the curious look Kaoru gave her. He almost chuckled at the slight hunching in the brunette's shoulders—a tell-tale sign that she was briefly embarrassed. He smiled after the shock at his correct observation left him and was happy to see a smile to greet him back.

"I wonder if going to the vending machine is all they are doing." She commented, more to herself than Kaoru. She chewed on her bottom lip absently and stared at the door the couple had left through.

A red-gold brow furrowed meditatively. "What else could they be doing?"

The brunette's sapphire eyes were edged with a stormy gray as they narrowed, "Plotting..." She met the shocked golden eyes and nearly laughed at the bewildered look there.

"Katie-chan doesn't look like a plotter to me." Kaoru reasoned. 'She just looks to innocent to be capable of that. Hikaru on the other hand...' Several instances came to mind, including the time his brother and he faked a fight to be able to go to their friend's house.

Dez smirked, a mischievous glint in her eye. "She writes enough stories, and with that brother of yours...I wouldn't put it passed them." She voiced Kaoru's thoughts without knowing.

Kaoru chuckled and rubbed her arm soothingly. He rested his cheek on the top of her head and sighed, "alright, I give. You have a point."

Dez wondered what to talk about now. Whenever they had been at a loss for topics Hikaru or Katie would miraculously pop up and then the problem was solved. This time they were on their own. She was content with the silence. It was far from awkward. Her mind wandered briefly before halting on something she had been wondering since they had shown up. She blushed at how blunt she was going to have to be (not that it had ever stopped her before) and looked down. "I know this is rude, but..."

"But what?" Kaoru pulled back only enough to catch her gaze. Something made him reluctantly to move away any more. "You can tell me."

Dez bit her lip, nearly beating herself up on the inside about what she was going to ask him. "Do you..." She closed her eyes a inhaled slowly, "do you care about me only because I'm hurt, or because you actually _care_ about me?" She should have known better than to ask. What if he said he didn't care...or what if he didn't know how he felt and squashed any sort of feeling at that very moment and ruined any chances she might have had?

Kaoru remained silent for a while. Every second that passed made the girl next to him more antsy and he could tell by the way she fidgeted. He saw her chew on her bottom lip, as if she didn't care if it bled. "W-well...It's hard to say."

"Why?"

Kaoru decided that an indirect answer would be best. He was unsure of what he needed to say, what he really felt and he didn't want to say something that he might end up regretting—or to have something blow up in his face. "When Hikaru and I got back, Mom wasn't home. It wasn't that I expected her to be there...but I did want to tell her about all the stuff we did. I had fun."

Dez stopped biting her lip and looked up at him. Their faces were so close that she turned her gaze back to her lap, but she could still feel the warmth of his body by hers and his breath on her cheek. "Th-that's good."

Kaoru nodded slowly, watching her, "Yeah. Well, anyway. The next day we slept in _really_ late."

"Katie and I wore you two out?" She chuckled.

"Heh, not really. I think we just got used to someone else sleeping nearby. The anticipation would wake us up is you didn't first." He reminisced to those brief four days that seemed long ago already.

Dez ducked her head sheepishly, "sorry."

It was his turn to chuckle, "Don't be. I enjoyed it. I don't think I've seen Hikaru take so much damage in his whole life compared to what you did to him over those four days." He rubbed the back of his neck as he tried not to laugh outright at the antics he could picture so easily.

Her laugh bubbled out of her throat, a sound full of gaiety, "I'm not sorry for that." She would never be, and she knew it. Sure, she had eased up a little bit but as long as Hikaru continued to do stupid or insensitive or perverted things (or a combination of the three), she would be there to smack him.

"I didn't think you would be."

"Becoming predictable, am I?" She arched her eyebrow gracefully and smirked. "I might have to work on that." It would be a challenge, but it would be a fun one at that.

"Oh great." Kaoru rolled his eyes at her before grinning.

"So," she put a hand to her mouth to hold back a laugh, "are you going to _finally_ answer my question?"

"I was getting to it." Kaoru prayed that Dez hadn't heard the pout in his voice. He inched a little closer and waited for her cue.

"Oh." Her face went blank and she gestured for him to go on, "then, please continue." She held back a yawn and silently damned the pain-killers that we just _now_ starting to work in full effect. If she wasn't careful, she might just fall asleep after he told her how he felt.

"I don't know how or why but those four days got me really used to being with besides my brother," he hesitated, getting frustrated for the lack of words to get his point across. "So when Katie and you weren't around...it just...it didn't feel..."

"...what are you trying to say?" She tried her best to keep the smirk out of her voice while those handsome gold eyes were focused elsewhere. They snapped up, locking onto her and she couldn't keep from smiling softly at him. 'I think I know where this is going. It's so cute that he doesn't quite understand.' She fought off a yawn.

"It felt _weird_, okay?" He sighed, exasperated. He looked down at his hands and mumbled, "I didn't like being away from you...and Katie." He added the small girl's friend as a second thought in a vain attempt to help lessen his blush.

Dez leaned against him, nestling her head on his shoulder. She bit back a yawn semi-successfully, "Kaoru-san?"

"Mm?" Kaoru wrapped an arm around the shoulders of the nearly asleep girl.

"I missed you too." Heavy lids drooped and she rested her forehead against the warm column of his neck. In mere seconds, her breathing had evened out to soft puffs of air brushed over the boy's throat.

Kaoru wrapped his arms around her tightly, pulling her closer to his body, and slowly shook his head. He eased back onto the pillows, "You always get me to say the oddest things."

--

Outside the door, Katie hesitated with her arms full of drinks. Whether she had stopped because she couldn't free a hand to turn the knob or because she thought she would be _disturbing_ the two teens on the other side of the door, no one could tell. Hikaru fixed her with a raised brow and a soft smile.

Katie spoke as soon as her tongue loosened from the butterflies that were currently having a dance party in her stomach, "M-maybe we shouldn't disturb them." She glanced up at the redhead, her eyes hopeful for...something.

Hikaru snorted derisively. "Disturb them doing _what_?" As if Kaoru would be kissing his toy—unless that's what he wanted to get out of her. Gold eyes slowly traced the girl beside him and he mused to himself whether he might want to do the same thing eventually. He didn't get very far for he noticed a bright blush staining the girl's cheeks. He had been caught staring.

"Th-they could be...well, I don't know!" Katie tried to beat her blush away, but meeting those calculating eyes above her made it worse.

"Then why are you worried?" His hand went for the knob after shifting the snacks around. "Seriously, Katie-kun."

"W-wait! We should knock." Katie scooted in front of him, knocking his hand out of the way. She felt a little foolish with cold drinks clasped tightly to her chest, but her pose was adamant. She didn't want to just walk in on them! What if they were...they were...

Hikaru heaved a stage sigh and held his hand up in surrender. "Fine, we'll knock." He knocked when she stepped to the side but there was no answer. He tapped his foot impatiently and soon just opened the door. Lying in the bed, a small body curled up around a longer one—Dez and Kaoru were both asleep. Hikaru face-palmed himself swiftly."There was nothing to worry about."

"O-oh. I knew th-that."

Hikaru dropped the snacks on the spare bed and rolled his eyes, "So, do you want to wait for them to wake up first?" He sat on the empty bed, careful to not land on the candy they had bought.

"Nah, I think it's okay." She smiled and put the drinks down next him before going over to the sleeping couple. She took off their shoes, moved their legs fully onto the bed and unfolded a blanket to put over them. She paused and brushed a lock of hair back from Dez's cheek before kicking her shoes off and plopping down on the spare bed across from Hikaru.

Hikaru watched her in fascination. "You'd make a good mom." His voice was soft as he confirmed it to himself. He blinked, his pensive moment shattered when he realized what he just said. "N-not that I'd know, since my mom is never home."

Katie smiled at his stumbling words, thinking it cute. "Thank you, Hikaru-kun."

"Right." Hikaru glanced away, his cheeks pink.

Katie leaned back, holding her knees to keep balance and stared at the ceiling for a moment. She adjusted her crossed her legs under her. She rolled back and braced her elbows on her knees. "Let's try the snacks while they take their nap." Her chin rested on a palm as she looked up at him expectantly, waiting for him to pick which one to try first. "After they wake up we can see how soon we can take Dez home."

Hikaru picked up a chocolate bar, turning over the brightly colored packaging,  
"And then we can do something that isn't so _boring_." He grinned at her as he opened it and broke off a piece for her.

"Right!" Katie giggled, popping the bite into her mouth.

**A/N: Alright! It's over! (Well, not really) I can work on the next chapter! I think this is like that other chapter that took me forever. I'm not sure if I have a clear shot until the end, but I hope the chapters will be more forthcoming with me. Pray for me?**


	11. Summer Skies in Early July

**WORD COUNT: **_7,881_

**NOTE: **_I suck. Epically so. Kreative and I kinda feed off each other for this, and I told her I wasn't going to write unless she worked on chapter 14, which she finally did, but for some reason I __**still**__ couldn't get back into this as much as I thought I would be able to. (And she hasn't finished it yet, so it's both our faults.)_

_I'm really glad that you guys are still with me after all this waiting I've made you do. Just rereading all those wonderful reviews have made me all teary and wishy-washy and gah...Thanks for all the support and I really hope you review this chapter too!_

_And (I know, shut up and get on with the story) whoever is our 100__th__ reviewer gets either a oneshot of any pairing in Ouran HSHC (including our OCs, Dez and Katie). It will be 1,000 words or less. Or you can get to have sneak peaks of the next chapter or two. Take your pick._

**DISCLAIMER: **_We (Kreative and I) do not own Kaoru and Hikaru...but if I ever win the MegaBucks, I'll try to buy into their "Stocks"._

Chapter Ten: Summer Skies in Early July

Dez groaned as her cell screeched its ring tone in her ear. Wincing and hating herself for forgetting to turn down the volume before collapsing onto Katie's bed, she groped around in the dark of the basement bedroom. She flicked the phone open quickly, hoping not to break it but unwilling to have it awaken the sleeping girl next to her. "What?" She spat with a harsh undertone.

"Well, well," the smooth and arrogant voice chuckled on the other side of the phone lines. Dez would have bet her left eye-tooth that he was grinning sardonically, "_someone_ is chipper this morning."

"Hikaru," Dez shuddered as she identified the voice and she rolled out of bed and snuck out of the windowless room into the downstairs living room. She wrapped her free arm around her middle in a vain attempt to ward off the slight chill of the basement as she paced slowly around the couch. Keeping her voice low was a challenge. "You prick, why are you calling so early in the morning?"

Hikaru inspected his nails carefully, hardly caring about the fuming brunette hissing through the phone and into his ear. As long as she was _way_ over in her apartment and he was here, he was perfectly safe. "Think of me as..." he paused, tapping his bottom lip thoughtfully, "your handsome alarm clock." He was a little ashamed that he couldn't be so ballsy in person, but this was better than nothing.

Dez growled and pulled the phone away from her ear, flipping him off through it. "I know you couldn't hear that, but I was flipping you off, you egotistical bast—" Blue-gray eyes locked on the analog clock face across the room. "Why," she ground out tempestuously, "did you wake me up this early? _It's fucking six in the morning!_ I don't even get up this early for _school_ if I can help it." It took a lot of effort for her to keep her voice low enough to not wake Katie or her sleeping family upstairs.

Hikaru clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Aren't we going to the Fourth of July parade today?" He waited for the pissed spitfire's reply as he looked through the sliding glass door to where his twin was still in his bed, the covers a mess and only one arm visible, hanging over the side.

"Yes." She sighed, wondering what his point was. The index and middle fingers of her free hand slowly rubbed circles into her temple as she attempted to figure out why Hikaru seemed so desperate for her to kill him.

"Doesn't it start at ten?" He felt as if he was talking to a small child. Of course, over the brief time that he had known the girls, he knew Dez wasn't a morning person if it were someone else who had done the waking.

She twitched and scowled in his general direction—or so she hoped. "Yes..." She drew out the word, hoping that he didn't expect that she would beat on him for asking her such obvious questions at such an ungodly hour.

"And aren't we going to Cushing after?" A devious smirk curled his lips in a Grinch-like way. He couldn't help himself, honestly. She was just too much fun to rile up like this.

"Yes!" She bit her bottom lip to keep herself from swearing. 'Ooh, do I want to punch that kid in the face! Why must he do this to me so early in the morning?'

Letting his intentions be known, he dropped the last question. "Are you and Katie-kun packed?" He listened to the outraged inhale of breath and settled himself for a smug winner moment.

"_Ye—" _Dez's finger, which had been pointed upward in an affirmative drooped with her head, "no..." She snapped her fingers, 'Damn. He's right.' She glared down at her toes uneasily, not liking the silence. 'I _hate_ it when he's right.' The small girl sighed and gave up, "Fine, I'm getting up."

"Good," he nodded, though he knew that she couldn't see him. "You're picking us up? We'll pay for gas again. I mean, it's cheap enough...but not as cheap as you, of course."

Dez grumbled, "Rich bastard," before snapping her phone shut, irritated. She threw her arms over head and winced as her side hurt. She didn't realize until she stepped outside to slowly go through the few and simple judo moves she knew, doing her best to stretch and keep control of her muscles, that she felt the stitches in her side tug gently at her. It was the day to get them out. "That ass got me out of bed early enough to get to my appointment on time so I can get back for the parade!" She stomped over to the downstairs door and muttered to herself, "I hate it when he's nice." She shivered, "It's so _weird_."

She dressed quickly, grabbed her keys and jotted a quick note for Katie on the nearest scrap of paper that she found on the younger girl's floor. She snagged a hair elastic of hers—she kept spares at Katie's since her hair was constantly up during the summer—and attached the note to her wrist. There was no way that she could miss it now. "I'm going to have to _thank_," she winced, "that boy for this."

An hour after Dez stole off into the hazy morning (speeding through the mist and sleeping residential areas), Katie slowly cracked open her eyes to discover the annoying thing that was prodding her in the neck every so often was a note from Dez. She rolled over, squinted at the clock on the other side of her room and decided that she need not be up this early. Surely she'd have time to pack later.

Dez slid from the driver's seat, thanking any god that would listen that she didn't have the doors on at the moment. Her side was sorer than she thought it would be after getting her stitches out. She was glad that they were willing to check on the stitches on a holiday, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible.

She skidded over the leftover dew on the grass that led down the steep but brief hill down to the back way into Katie's house. She passed the pool with a fond thought of swimming later (eventually at least), and opened the back door. She walked over to Katie's room, frowning at the fact that she didn't see any light coming from under the door. She went inside and crossed her arms over her chest, disapproving of Katie sleeping in so late. She plopped by the slumbering girl's head and leaned over to tickle her awake.

The unconscious party twitched slightly in protest of this new treatment. When that didn't work, Katie completely rolled over but Dez had anticipated this and followed her. Hands frantically gripped the blankets and yanked them up until only a crop of dark reddish brown hair was exposed. Dez leaned on her so she couldn't move any more and tickled away through the blankets.

A squeak erupted from behind the fabric, and a few giggles accompanied the futile squirming. "D-Dez!" Katie gasped as she wriggled more, trying to escape her "sister". Her face—now exposed as the blanket hand mostly fallen off now that she was trying to fight Dez off instead of holding the cloth up—was a bright red. She rolled on top of one of Dez's hands, caught her breath momentarily and then decided to roll _over_ her friend. She laughed as the older girl squawked, until she herself rolled off of the bed and landed with a _whuff! _almost all the air leaving her lungs at once. "Stop!"

Dez continued to tickle her, tilting herself just right so that she could reach Katie, but not fall off of the bed with her. "Say please!" she taunted in her singsong way. She grinned manically as the blushing girl struggled to acquiesce without stuttering. Finally Katie shouted 'please' and Dez immediately stopped. Her dark sapphire eyes sparkled mischievously as she watched her friend suck in the sacred oxygen. "You deserve more than that, you know."

"Why?" Katie was still sleepy enough that she wasn't sure why she had needed to get up earlier.

"We've got stuff to do!" Dez sighed exasperatedly. "Are you packed? Are you dressed? I have to get the boys and get my clothes for the parade among other things. There's a reason as to why I left you that note!"

"Okay!" Katie got up and marched over to her hamper, "I get it." She rummaged around and threw a couple things toward her bed not caring if Dez dodged or not. "How do you feel?" She had caught her friend absently rubbing where her stitches had been.

Dez let her hand drop and glanced up at the ceiling, contemplating. She answered as truthfully and straight faced as she could, "Like I should hit something. Preferably Hikaru." She smiled happily. She loved to tease and smack him around, his reactions were almost as loud and expressive as Katie's.

Katie shook her head, "You're not very nice to Hikaru-kun, Dezy, why?"

"Because he's a bishie playboy who might hurt my innocent Katie." Dez smiled smugly, just imagining Hikaru sneezing at her badmouthing him. 'He probably called me a cheap bitch, too.' She led Katie out to her jeep as soon as she was ready. As she drove to pick up the boys she remembered how when she first met Hikaru, she wanted to hook him up with Katie. 'But now that I know what he's like...he needed a serious attitude adjustment. If they seriously think I don't know what they used to think of us, then Katie's blonde.'

Katie relaxed as the jeep came to a stop on the long drive. For some reason it had been making some unnerving noises. She shivered as Dez stroked the dashboard and cooed. 'Sometimes I have to wonder what does Kaoru-kun sees in her?' Katie unbuckled and stood in her seat, retreating behind Dez's seat and waiting for the boys to climb in. 'It must be something pretty spectacular to keep him around.' Now that was a sobering thought. Katie wondered what it was about her that kept Hikaru interested too. Shaking her head, she returned to the normal world just to hear Dez threatening not-so-legal driving at Hikaru. "Please don't Dezy."

"Yeah," Hikaru chided, "Listen to Katie-kun. She knows this rust heap wouldn't be able to take it." He settled into the seat behind Dez. It was the best choice for him, because it was easier for Dez to talk to Katie without turning around a dangerous amount, and it was harder for her to reach back and swat him. 'Plus,' he thought morbidly. 'If she gets into an accident, her seat will block me.'

Dez jerked the hand that had been stroking the dashboard up snappily to flip Hikaru off. "_Sorry_ I have to pay for an apartment and food and everything else before fixing my jeep." She swatted his leg for good measure before pulling out.

"You have an apartment?" The twins chorused, their heads tipping to the side slightly as if they were trying to imagine it. It was probably small, with an "organized mess" and a very welcoming feel.

"You call _that_ an apartment?" Katie blurted before slapping her hands over her mouth and shooting Dez an apologetic look via rear view mirror. "Sorry Dez!" No matter how sorry she actually was, she still gave Hikaru a high five when he cheered her on.

"Katie's right though, it is pathetic." Dez grinned, brushing it off. She really couldn't blame Katie for the jibe any more than she could blame her wages for what she could easily afford.

"Is that why..." Hikaru raised an eyebrow.

"We've never gone?" Kaoru finished for his twin, keeping an eye on Dez. He hoped that this wasn't a touchy subject.

"Nah..." Dez waved it off and kept her eyes on the road. She didn't really _want_ to take them there, but she believed that she would eventually. She was somewhat ashamed about her place, but at least she had one to call her own. If she left herself be honest, it was more of the issue with her parents that she didn't want to have to explain with the boys more than anything else. She figured that they already could tell that she was a bit of a rebel, but was she really ready to let them know that her past paled in comparison to what they might think now?

"We wouldn't fit!" Katie chirruped happily. She squeezed over close to Hikaru in case Dez felt like smacking her too. She knew that Dez would retort and not really mind the sisterly jest anyway.

"Yes we would!" Dez retorted, pulling into the parking lot. She grabbed her bag of clothes from the back at Katie's feet, including a very old looking musket, and handed Kaoru her keys. "I'll meet you guys at the Fort. Katie can get you there, I gotta change and get into character. See you!" She dashed off, the firearm bouncing on her shoulder.

After a run-in with Charlotte "Charlie" Therriault, Kaoru glanced over at Katie who was merrily chatting with the girl who used to be a spitfire who drove too fast. He liked studying the change in posture and mannerisms the girl-turned-boy had. A shout of, 'Charlie' made the brunette look up and she—_he—_stood and waved to a taller young man. She punched him lightly in the arm as he started to talk to her in a subdued-British accent. Recalling Dez's—Charlie's—own accent, he wondered aloud if these people were really good actors.

"Dez?" Brown eyes looked over to the twins. "She's not much for acting. She can't memorize lines to save her life. She's too...spontaneous. She's a brilliant techie and a nearly neurotic stage manager, though. Our high school plays won't be the same without her." Katie informed him cheerily.

"You two might think she's smart and all, but I think she's schizophrenic!" Hikaru gulped as he saw Dez again, but thankfully she was still in character, or so he thought. The stinging in his arm told him otherwise.

Dez ushered them toward the main entrance of the Fort, and after _purposely_ gathering other visitors, started a tour of the different parts of the building. She talked about trades and daily life and fashion and food. Finally, Dez had gone back to her normal self wearing a paint-splattered tank top and short cut-offs. Currently they were going ten over the speed limit on twisty country roads that Dez knew like the back of her hand.

Somehow, Katie had fallen asleep to the rocking motion of the car on the way there. Her head was pillowed on Hikaru's chest. The loud twin slumbered as well. Dez eventually reached Hawthorne Point Road and slowed down gradually but considerably so that she could make a seamless park in the yard so not to wake them up crudely.

Kaoru woke his twin carefully, and after a quick 'game' of Pass-the-Katie, they laid her down in the back bedroom. Dez headed downstairs to see if there was anything she could make for their next meal with what was left in the pantry. She knew she'd have to go to the grocery soon. She clucked her tongue as she looked through the freezer...maybe they could order a pizza.

Kaoru could see Dez pawing through a phone book from the doorway of the living room. He leaned against the door jamb and watched her place an order for a pizza. She frowned and said, "No deliveries on holidays? Fine, I can go pick it up." She went to dig through her wallet to see if she had the cash to pay when Kaoru quickly stepped up behind her and took the phone. He pulled out a card and offered the numbers, paying for it himself. Once off the phone, he chuckled at the glare Dez gave him. "I could have—"

"Please, Dez-kun, let Hikaru and I cover this. You have your own problems to worry about at the moment." He silently meant paying for her apartment among the other bills he knew she had.

She nodded and went back to the quiet and thoughtful look she had worn earlier. She shuffled to the table and reached for her keys when a hand softly rested upon her own. She looked up into golden eyes. "What?"

"Go ahead." Kaoru said cryptically.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Dez pulled her hand away, slipping the keyring around her index finger.

"You have a question or something weighing on your mind. I _know_ you do." Kaoru had a gut feeling that told him that there was something bothering Dez, and he was curious as to what it was. For some reason he just _knew_ that it wasn't something that had to deal with her normal life and that intrigued him more.

"It's nothing..." Dez blushed hotly and started toward the door. She wanted to get out from underneath that molten gaze and go get the food. Anything to stop this interrogation. She didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to sound clingy.

Kaoru stepped in her way and tipped her chin up to meet her eyes. "Ask me anyway." His hand rested on her shoulder, then slid down until he was holding her hand. "I want to know what you are thinking."

Her free hand raised itself slowly and rested on his forearm. She didn't know whether she wanted to wrench his arm off her and run away or to keep staring up at him. "How long?" She whispered, her eyes flitting to some place off in the distance. "How long are you going to be with m—us this time?" She cursed the burning in the backs of her eyes silently. She'd hate herself if she cried now. "How long do I have left with you?"

"I..." Kaoru hadn't been expecting this. "I don't know." He knew that they'd be going back to Japan sometime in the middle of August, but who said they would still be hanging out with the girls then? What if Hikaru found out that Kaoru was starting to get more than attached to Dez? So many questions buzzed through his mind until the brunette spoke.

"I don't want to lose you." She bit her bottom lip. "You are important to me...a good friend." She didn't know why she felt like she needed to add that distance right then. Maybe it would help keep them around. She had a feeling that maybe Kaoru was starting to return her affections instead of seeing her as a mere toy. 'But what if he doesn't feel like that for me?' She wondered. 'I don't want to scare him off...' She decided to abruptly change the subject since she was terrible at polite conversation subtleties and asked him to join her in picking up their food.

Hikaru's eyes opened in a snap when he felt the house tremble slightly when someone shut the front door. He wouldn't openly admit to anyone that feeling the house shudder and hearing it groan creeped him right the heck out. He looked to the bed where Katie _had _been. He remembered finding the chair he was killing his back in and pulling it over to the bedside to watch her sleep. 'Why...did I...?' The memory came back to him quickly. Dez and Kaoru were going to do something about a late lunch and they didn't want to leave Katie alone.

He stood slowly, wincing as blood started to rush to the rest of his body. "Damn wooden torture device." He grumbled at the chair. He hobbled toward the set of break-your-neck stairs in the corner and stumbled down, the smell of fresh pizza wafting through the rooms. He spotted Dez setting down the two boxes, "Where are Katie-kun and Kaoru?"

"Picking blueberries for dessert and in the bathroom, respectively." She answered, glancing up to see Hikaru rubbing his back. She raised an eyebrow, and with semi-genuine concern, opened her mouth. "You didn't sleep in that stupid chair, did you Hikaru?" The groan that was his reply answered for him and she reached out for him. "Come here, I can help."

Hikaru looked at her incredulously. "Help?" He snorted. A part of him—the part screaming in pain—actually wanted to accept. He remained reluctant. Her hand snapped forward and grabbed the front of his shirt, trying to yank him toward her. Hikaru's foot caught on something and he felt himself tumble forward. Dez's forearm slammed into his sternum, winding him as they both fell.

Dez glared down at Hikaru. This was _not_ a position she wanted to be in with anyone at the moment. She had caught herself on her right palm, but the weight had been enough that she had to drop to her forearm, bracing herself just enough to keep her skull from kissing the floor too energetically for her taste. Her lower back to her tail bone screeched at her for the harsh treatment. Braided rugs or no, those floors were hard.

Hikaru gulped. His left hand, by Dez's hip, kept himself from lying on top of the fuming brunette. His other arm was resting somewhere by the girl's shoulder, just barely keeping his chin from plunging into the space between her breasts. He did his best not to move. He didn't want to shift in the wrong way and set off her temper.

A pregnant pause broke as laughter echoed out from either side of the dining room. Katie, who had just came in to see the whole thing, met Kaoru's eyes across the room. The redhead had done pretty well with remaining silent so the two teens on the floor wouldn't notice him watching. "Well _that's_ not suggestive!"

"Katie!" Dez slowly slid her right leg, the one that had been caught between both of Hikaru's, against his inner thigh. She could tell by the mortified look on his face that he could tell how dangerously close it was to his privates. She smirked at the knowledge that clicked behind those gold eyes. She wouldn't hesitate to slam her knee or foot there if he so much as moved. Her shin rested on the length of his abdomen and she slowly pushed up. "I'll get you for this Hikaru!"

Hikaru quickly regained his footing and backed away, wary of her limbs. "What did I do?" He didn't back away too far. He didn't want anyone to think he was actually _scared_ of Dez, he just didn't want to be in the way. Yeah, that was right.

Dez continued raising both legs until she made her body roll up. In a reversed somersault, she righted herself. "You corrupted my innocent Katie!" She exclaimed indignantly. She smacked him when he said that it was his pleasure to do so and left to find paper plates so that they could eat before the pizza got cold.

"With natural probability," she grumbled as she jumped up to snag the plates, "And my vertically challenged-ness, it just _figures_ that the plates are on the top shelf." She readied herself for another try when a warm hand landed on her shoulder.

"Let me." Kaoru whispered, his hand casually brushed her wrist, then the back of her hand as he reached out of her range and grabbed the plates for her. 'Why am I behaving like this? Hikaru wouldn't be pleased at all. They're supposed to be just toys but I just can't see her than anything less than a friend. I bet she doesn't know either...'

"Thanks!" Dez smiled as they went back to the others to eat before heading out to kill time until it was dark enough for the fireworks. Katie ended up dragging them into a a small store that sold all sorts of things unusual. Kaoru ended up spotting a pretty little charm bracelet covered in moons and stars inlaid with precious stones that he bought for Dez's birthday (after being reminded by Katie that is was in six days).

At dusk Katie was complaining that Dez was lost again. They were supposed to meeting one of Dez's old friends to go to the 'best' spot in all of Thomaston for the fireworks. She took Dez's keys, declaring that she no longer deserved having them if she could get lost so easily. While they wandered down one of the streets, they heard a whistle off to the left. Dez looked up and smirked. "Heya there, Carp!"

A tall teen stepped out of the shadowed doorway of an apartment complex. His ice gray eyes shone brightly in the setting sun. He grinned boyishly and stepped forward, dragging Dez into a fierce hug. "Took ya long enough, Rae. Didja get lost again?"

Dez reached up to ruffle shaggy black hair, "I have company, dolt." She glared for half a second before gesturing to the rest of her group. She introduced Katie and the twins, "This is Alexander Carpenter. The gang calls him Carp." She didn't explain that they really were a 'gang', because she didn't want them to know. 'That's not me anymore...it's in the past.'

"Nice ta meet'cha." He smiled at them, silently assessing them out of the corner of his eye. He opened the door behind him and let them inside. "C'mon, Rae. The gang's on the roof." He led the way to the staircase and ushered everyone up before him, so that he could make sure there weren't any stragglers left.

Dez entered the top apartment when a blonde girl opened the door at her rhythmic knock. "Rae!" The girl squealed, giving the shocked brunette the biggest hug of her life. Dez squeaked as her feet left the ground suddenly and she was whirled around. When given a chance to breathe, Dez stumbled back and followed the girl, Jocelyn, to the back of the apartment where they could climb through the skylight to the roof.

"I can see everyone really missed me, huh Joey?" She asked the girl that had hugged her at the door. Only a few minutes up on the roof and just about every single teen up there had come over to shake her hand or hug her or some other way of greeting.

"Of course we do, Rae! You were our leader! Things haven't been the same. Angel's trying to take your spot, ever since the day you defected—" Dez's hand planted itself over Joey's mouth. She didn't want the others to know about that. Not yet, if she could help it.

She glanced up at Carp who had seemingly appeared from nowhere at her elbow. "I'll be right back, okay you three? Find a good spot!" She dragged Joey off and hoped that the others wouldn't find this too odd. She glared at Carp who had lingered long enough to whisper in Kaoru's ear. "_I _was her first..." She didn't know what he had said, but by the furious look on Kaoru's face, it couldn't have been good.

Dez skidded over and into a crouch by Katie nearly a half hour later. She hadn't been expecting such warm greetings from so many people up on the roof. 'I didn't even think I was going to be invited back this year.' She leaned on Katie briefly, startling the younger girl. "Miss me?" She asked, absently fingering the glittery star tattoo someone had insisted on putting under her left eye.

"Well, _duh_." Katie rolled her eyes and dragged Dez more toward her spot on the blanket. "I don't know anyone here but the ones who I came with. No one seemed to want to pop over for a chat either." She pointed over Hikaru's lap to a small space on the blanket. "We saved a space for you at least."

Dez eyed the spot with a secret smile and a raised brow before carefully squeezing, so she wouldn't just outright plop herself into Kaoru's lap. "Sorry, but there are so many, I didn't really want to bother." She scratched at the back of her neck, uneasy. 'I didn't want to show off the boys anyway. There are a lot of girls here who wouldn't mind trying to take them off into a dark corner.' She glanced at each boy on either side of her out of the corner of her eyes, 'and that's not right.' She suppressed a smirk. ''Cause we saw them first.'

The brunette leaned back onto her elbows and crossed her ankles just as the first firework rocketed off into the sky, whistling as it rose. It exploded and washed the rooftop with a swath of green light. All the teens on the roof 'ooh'ed and 'aah'ed over the 'works and occasionally there was a whoop for a really big or loud one. A few people were rating the explosions and comparing them to the previous years.

Dez bit back a yawn from where she lay curled up against Kaoru's chest, watching the pyrotechnics above them. It wasn't that she was actually _tired_, but Kaoru was warm and comfortable and it was making her feel sleepy. 'I could easily fall asleep right now.'

Brownie eyes glanced over and crinkled at the edges merrily. Katie nudged Hikaru with her elbow and slyly nodded toward the two. She watched the golden eyes light like they always did before he started to tease Dez as he smirked and asked, "Comfy?"

Bright blue eyes darkened as they flashed toward the other to as if to say, 'You look quite comfy yourself there, boy,' before she buried her face into Kaoru's shoulder. The younger redhead's eyes flicked down to the girl in his arms before locking coldly on the silhouette of Alex across the rooftop. "Yes." He pulled her close enough to rest his chin on top of her head.

The pause before the Grand Finale rung with echoes of the previous fireworks. Kaoru slowly sat up and tried to stand, not knowing that they hadn't finished, until Dez grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down. "It's not over yet," she tried to say, but as he tumbled forward, she tell back. The brunette swallowed nervously as she looked up at the piercing golden eyes of the boy hovering over her.

Kaoru leaned closer as the night sky burst in a splendorous eruption of color that played over curves of Dez's face. 'Why do I feel so light when I'm with her?' he wondered as he leaned closer. 'And,' he thought as he watched the dark blue eyes widen as their faces neared, 'do I make her feel the same?' He smiled softly at her before leaning up and softly kissing her forehead, his heart suddenly thundering happily in his chest.

Dez blushed and looked away. 'Why is he doing this? He can't possibly...' Dez paused, 'Maybe he does and just doesn't realize it?' She kept pondering as she looked over at Katie and Hikaru. She raised an eyebrow at the older twin who had pulled Katie into his lap, and now sat with his chin on her shoulder, gazing at the colorful sky above them. His arms were wrapped around her waist and Katie leaned back into his embrace. "What do you think you're doing, Hikaru?"

Hikaru lifted his head and stared at her blankly, unsure of what she was talking about. He blinked and looked at Katie and smiled softly before resting his chin on her shoulder again, "Being comfortable. What does it look like?"

Dez shook her head. She wanted to yell 'like hell you are!' but didn't. In the last couple of minutes she had realized why she had been invited here, and it wasn't a good thing. She was afraid to say anything obvious out loud about them leaving, so she had to wait for the fireworks to end. She stood slowly and stretched once they had ended, but carefully kept an eye out for anyone coming toward them or moving to block the way out.

Katie hopped up and offered Hikaru her hands. He grinned up at her and accepted the offered help. He noticed how stiff Dez was as she waited for them to fold the blanket. 'I wonder what's wrong with her? Does Kaoru-kun know?' He looked at his brother who stood next to the petite brunette and making small talk. If he noticed anything, he wasn't showing it.

Alex slid up alongside Dez before she could take a step to the door and wrapped an arm around her. He smirked at Kaoru, meeting the younger twin's eyes with disdain. He leaned toward the girl, and tugged her closer to kiss when a fist met his gut just hard enough to push him back a step. "Don't even," she hissed.

She grabbed Kaoru's hand harsher than she meant to and gestured to the exit with her head, hoping that Katie and Hikaru would easily take the hint. Just before she got to the door however, a girl not much younger than Dez stepped in their way. She glared hotly at Dez, her blonde hair tied back in a high ponytail. Dez's eyes narrowed and she dropped Kaoru's hand to sidestep in front of him. "Move, Angel."

"You're not the leader of us, anymore." She spat at Dez's feet. "I don't have to listen to you." Her fists clenched as she stared back at the brunette. She looked like she had her guard up, but it had probably gotten quite lax over the last two years.

"It's not a matter of listening, you don't have to listen to me at all." Dez said nonchalantly. Her eyes narrowed and her voice was instantly sharper as if she was used to commanding those on the roof. "Just obey me." She stepped forward, a hand out and fingers splayed to warn all to not interfere with this. "It can't be that hard for you, even if you _are_ blonde." She didn't want to resort to such a shallow jibe, but maybe it would make the other girl back off.

Angel snapped and launched herself at Dez, her hands instantly going for her throat. She knocked the girl onto her back, not noticing how people moved around her. The unfamiliar teens formed a circle around the two fighting girls, pushing Katie and the twins toward the front so they could watch in horror. Angel, using her advantage of height, leaned over Dez. Her elbows locked and she let her weight press against the smaller girl's throat.

Dez gasped, her hands gripping Angel's wrists tightly. She was winded from the drop to the ground, and now the blonde was cutting off any air she might be able to get. Dez dug in her nails deep and twisted. She drew blood and Angel pulled back enough for her to shove her off. She jumped up and stepped back, waiting for Angel to try something again. She didn't want to fight her, she just wanted to get out. She waited for Angel to swing again, knowing she wouldn't have to wait long.

Shortly after Angel stood, she threw a punch that Dez barely dodged. The smaller girl grabbed her wrist and yanked behind her and upwards, pinning her. "That is enough." She rasped as she pulled Angel upright and against her. She backed out of the ring of teens, watching as they all stepped away from her. "I quit this nonsense two years ago. Don't any of you realize what you're doing to yourselves? Your future? Being in a gang might seem like fun and games, but what about when someone gets hurt? Or dies? What if one of you gets caught and goes to jail?"

She thrust Angel at Alex. He reached for her as she stumbled and cradled her to his chest, revealing to Dez that they had planned this together just by how they touched and looked at each other. She stepped toward Katie and the twins for support when she talked to the large group but they, too, moved away from her. "I didn't want to that to happen to you and that's why I quit. I had hoped that after you were done pummeling me for leaving that you would give up without me to guide you and disband."

She stepped toward the door and wasn't surprised when not a single person moved toward her. "I'm out." She cleared her throat and gingerly reached up to rub it where Angel had choked her. "I will warn you, if you come near me or mine," she gestured at Katie, Hikaru and Kaoru, "with intent to harm, you'll wish you'd never been born." Her dark gray eyes narrowed on Angel and Alex before she spun about and left.

She descended the stairs briskly, just wanting to get away from there. It really hurt that her own friends sided with the others enough to move away from her. She dug in her pocket for the keys to the jeep when she remembered that Katie had taken them from her. "Well, it's a nice night for a walk I guess." She sighed and before she even took a step, a door slammed open and Katie came barreling out calling her name.

Katie jumped at Dez and plastered her to the hood of the jeep. "I'm sorry!" She hugged her older-sister figure tightly. "You just surprised me! And I was so worried you were gonna get hurt." She pulled back, looking the smaller girl over and she frowned at the discoloration on her throat. She turned when she heard a weak chuckle and smiled at the redheads who had followed her mad dash down the stairs.

"That midget? Get hurt?" Hikaru scoffed, "I would be more worried that she'd be so filled with blood lust she'd go after us all." He stopped in front of the girls and ruffled Dez's hair fondly. "Don't scare her again, okay pipsqueak? I thought she was gonna break my hand." He grinned at her, and looked at Katie again. Briefly, he wondered if she would haul off and smack him with the look that she was giving him. 'I like that frustrated pouty-scowl she has...' he shook his head and climbed into the jeep. 'Good thing she doesn't take after her "sister" or I bet I would get smacked.'

"Let's go home." Kaoru suggested as he put the seat forward for Katie to climb in. "It's late, and don't we have a watermelon to enjoy?" He hopped in once Katie was happily sitting in the back seat, bouncing ever so slightly and searching through her music for something cheerful to play. Dez sat in the driver's seat for a moment and watched everyone with a small smile on her face. These were real friends right here.

Once inside, Katie took hold of leadership. She forced Dez to sit on Kaoru's lap while Hikaru cut the watermelon and she looked for a first aid kit. She knew that the smaller girl was not looking forward to having rubbing alcohol on the nail marks on her neck. She came back in and was pleased to find that Hikaru wasn't picking on Dez. Maybe what happened had matured them some.

Katie tipped the uncapped bottle of rubbing alcohol onto a cotton ball. She watched Dez wince, but tip her head to the side so she could dab at the few crescents in her neck that had drawn blood. She jumped back when Dez swore suddenly and loudly. The brunette's hand snapped out suddenly and connected soundly with Hikaru's chest. "Fuck! That stings!"

Hikaru gawped at her. She hit him after he was being so nice? Did she _know_ how hard she made it for him to actually _be_ nice to her? "Why the hell did you hit me?!" He exclaimed, holding his stomach.

"I needed to vent!" She replied while Kaoru's arms tightened around her. She wasn't sure if he was trying to calm her or keep her from mauling his sibling. She relaxed as much as her current level of pain would allow her and sighed. "What was I supposed to do? I can't hit Katie! She's too cute." She grinned as Katie blushed and pressed another cotton ball to her neck, making her wince.

Hikaru snorted, "And what about Kaoru? He's much closer than I was."

"Well," she shrugged, "Kaoru-san's nice to me."

"What!?" The elder twin spluttered, "I-I was too! What the heck?!"

"Baby." Dez quipped as Katie stuck a brightly colored bandage to the one spot that kept bleeding. "If you want, I can give you an injury that Katie will apply rubbing alcohol on." She grinned in a very maniacal way and waved him off when he declined. "Let's go eat our watermelon outside so we don't make a mess."

Katie grabbed the plate, muttering something about grabbing the best piece, and led the way outside. Dez chuckled after her and stood slowly, grabbing Kaoru's hand. She smiled shyly and squeezed briefly, her heart pounding when he smiled and squeezed back. The stepped outside to catch Katie saying, "-spit out the seeds."

"Yeah," Dez affirmed as she grabbed a smallish piece and sucked half of it down really quick and spat a couple of seeds at Hikaru, "Or a watermelon will grow in your stomach." She giggled when Hikaru looked at her dumbfounded and asked if that was true. "Of course...not! That's just something to scare little kids 'cause it's a choking hazard and kinda unpleasant to chomp on one of those things." She hopped up onto the railing and shook her head at him. "Jeez, Katie. I knew your man was childish, but gullible _and_ childish?"

Katie blinked, stuck on one phrase. "My..._what_?" Her voice was colder than it had ever been before.

Dez, who was not nearly worried enough for her life as of yet, grinned and tossed her watermelon rind into the garden behind her. "Your _man_." She emphasized with a lengthy smirk. As the younger girl lunged, the brunette vaulted over the railing she had been sitting on and ran as fast as her legs could take her away from the furious girl who was screaming, "Desiree Michelle Boucharde! Get back here!"

Dez winked at the boys, who were both staring at them for acting so immature with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Make me, Kathryn Jacqueline Carmen!" She stuck her tongue out as she jogged backwards and led the younger girl around the corner and out of sight. As she skidded on the dew-damp grass and nearly fell by the well she laughed. She could hear Katie gaining on her. "Don't trip!" She called back, gamely.

Two corners later, she saw the boys sitting on the railing she had vacated and leaning over to get a better view. She joking blew a kiss as she ran passed them, keeping a steady pace that kept her barely out of Katie's grasp. When she passed them a second time, she yelled for one of them to go grab her purse. The redheads looked puzzled, but one of them went inside to do as she asked after she rounded the corner.

Her last pass, she slowed down and vaulted up onto the deck. She took the offered bag from Kaoru and dug around in it until she found what she was looking for. She grinned and pulled out an inhaler and held it out as Katie wheezed up onto the deck. "I love you, and know you better than anyone else. You know that the world would be a sad and lonely place if it weren't for my troublesome ass, so please don't kill me?"

Katie shook the inhaler before using it, glaring subtly at Dez until she could release the held breath. She leaned closer to her older sister figure and smacked her upside the head. "Love you too, but you gotta learn to watch that mouth of yours before you get yourself into serious trouble."

Dez smirked and hugged Katie, "I try, but it's quite hard unless I keep a mirror on me at all times." She hopped back and raised her arms to ward off another blow if Katie felt like it. She swatted a mosquito away irritably and opened the door. "Who else wants to watch a movie?" She smiled at her friends and beckoned them inside. 'The only thing left to do to return to normalcy is to get into a fight, or a bet, with Hikaru.' She eyed the older redhead and smirked, 'that'll be quite easy to do.'


End file.
